It is native to much of west central and east Africa, including Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Chad.

It has a distinctive appearance, which is alluded to in its name; the long white fringes of hair that run along each side of its black trunk are known as a mantle.

It is an adaptable species that can cope with habitat disturbance and prefers secondary forest close to rivers or lakes.

The mantled guereza is well known for its dawn chorus, the males' "roar" is a method of long-distance communication that reinforces territorial boundaries.

[5] The scientific name Colobus derives from Greek kolobus meaning "mutilated" which refers to its lack of thumbs.

[6] The mantled guereza was first classified by Eduard Rüppell, a German naturalist and explorer, during his trip to Abyssinia between 1830 and 1834.

[10] Groves lists seven subspecies of mantled guereza in Mammal Species of the World (MSW) (2005).

[1] The validity of the Djaffa Mountain guereza, C. g. gallarum, is uncertain, although not listed by Groves in MSW, it is recognised in his 2007 Colobinae review paper,[11] and by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessors Gippolliti and Butynski in 2008.

The bands that make up the mantle start at the shoulders and extend along the back until they connect at the lower torso.

It ranges from Nigeria and Cameroon in the west to Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and northern Tanzania in the east.

[20] It is likely that the mantled guereza prefers these forests due to the increased number of food trees and the weaker chemical defenses of the species within.

[20] The mantled guereza is sometimes found in swamps[21] as well as human-made habitats such as Eucalyptus plantations, which may be frequented when the monkey has nutritional deficiencies.

[19] The mantled guereza is primarily arboreal, but does sometimes descend on the ground to forage and travel, perhaps more so than most other colobines.

Sometime after dawn, mantled guereza groups leave their sleeping trees and will return to them at dusk.

It may eat bark, wood, seeds, flowers, petioles, lianas, aquatic-plants, arthropods, soil, and even concrete from buildings.

Nutritional factors like protein, tannins, and sodium levels in leaves influence its food choices.

[26] Leaves usually make up over half of its diet, although fruits are occasionally eaten more depending on the season.

[21][25] Like all colobi, the mantled guereza is able to digest leaves and other plant fibers with a large, multi-chambered stomach that contains bacteria in certain areas.

[27] Like most colobines, it prefers foods with high fiber content that can be easily extracted with its specialized stomach.

[19] Because of its low quality diet and the dispersed distribution of its food, the mantled guereza has a resident-egalitarian social structure.

Female guerezas living in a group often have an egalitarian dominance style with no formalized rank relations.

[23] In some populations, groups may defend core areas (which exist as a small part of the home range), resources, and mates.

During intergroup encounters, males can engage in direct or indirect mate defense, like defending a female's resources.

[35] To solicit mating, the mantled guereza will walk near its potential partner and make low-intensity mouth clicks or tough-smacks.

[39] The most notable vocalization of the mantled guereza is the "roar", which is made mainly at night or dawn by males.

Roars are used for long-distance communication and can regulate inter-group spacing without direct, physical contact while foraging.

[42] In addition to vocalizations, the mantled guereza communicates with several different body postures and movements, displaying of fringe fur, facial expressions, and touches.

[39] Because it can live in both dry and gallery forests and move on the ground, the mantled guereza is less threatened than many other colobine species.

[43] The IUCN lists it as Least Concern because "although locally threatened in parts of its range, this widespread species is not thought to be declining fast enough to place it in a higher category of threat.