Population density of Cercopithecus mona on the Cribbean island of Grenada

The density of a population is an indicator of its relative success when compared to the other populations within the same species. Few studies have examined population densities of Cercopithecus mona in its original range in Africa [1,2]. Previous to this study, no population surveys had been conducted in the introduced range of C. mona on the Caribbean island of Grenada. The mona monkey was introduced to Grenada sometime between the late 17th and 18th centuries during the height of the slave trade to the Americas [3]. The population of C. mona now on Grenada was most likely started from only a few breeding individuals as slave traders usually carried only a small number of monkeys or other exotic animals as cargo at one time [4,5]. In this paper, an overall population density estimate for C. mona on Grenada is presented and compared to information provided in the literature regarding African C. mona population densities.