White-thighed Colobus

White-thighed Colobus - a monkey on the edge

This stunning monkey was once common in the forests of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin. The White-thighed Colobus is now considered Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (Matsuda Goodwin et al. 2020) with its huge decline being due to forest loss and hunting for bushmeat.

There’s still a population in Volta Region’s Kalakpa Resource Reserve. The colobus use the gallery forest along rivers as well as areas of dry forest in this 320 square kilometre reserve. However, their survival is threatened by illegal practices – hunting for bushmeat and habitat loss through tree-felling for charcoal, setting of fires and cattle grazing.

This is a global rarity. There are only around one thousand White-thighed Colobus left in the wild (Matsuda Goodwin et al. 2020), most of which are to be found in Ghana. Just one strong population remains – at the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary in central Ghana. That’s where these wonderful images were taken by PAW Ghana supporter Robert Barnes.


The White-thighed Colobus Colobus vellerosus is part of the Black-and-White Colobus species complex. This species is also known as the Geoffrey’s Colobus or the Ursine Colobus. The Kalakpa reserve is also home to Patas, Green, Spot-nosed and Mona Monkeys, but colobus occupy a different ecological niche – the colobus is specially adapted to digest foliage, whilst all the other monkeys concentrate on more nutrient-rich foods such as fruit.

The Kalakapa reserve’s White-thighed Colobus population is important in many ways. These individuals are likely to have a distinct genetic diversity which complements that of the animals at Boabeng-Fiema. Should disease strike any of the few other remaining sites for the species, the Kalakpa population is sufficiently distant that Kalakpa’s colobus should be able to stay disease-free. Finally this charismatic species is a flagship for the conservation of this precious but highly threatened reserve.


The fight to save this species from extinction at Kalakpa – and perhaps globally – will rely upon the human pressures on this reserve being lifted. This can only be addressed by providing better livelihoods for everyone in the neighbouring communities through sustainable economic development linked to promoting the value of this reserve to local people, Ghana and the world.


This is the Kalakpa Club’s vision. This is why People and Wildlife Ghana are so committed to finding donors who can keep this vital work going. Without a reversal in the fortunes of the reserve, the beautiful White-thighed Colobus will go extinct and so many other species will continue to decline.
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