Mona monkeys are very social animals — they live in groups and spend their days leaping between trees, searching for fruit, leaves and insects to eat. They are intelligent and curious, and if you sit quietly near Grand Etang lake or along a rainforest trail, a troop of monkeys may come close enough to study you just as carefully as you are studying them. Their bright eyes miss very little.
Each troop has a territory — a home range of forest it knows well, with favourite fruit trees and sleeping spots high in the canopy. The monkeys communicate with a range of calls: a bark to warn of danger, a gentle chirp to stay in contact, and a series of chatters when they are playing or squabbling over food. Young monkeys spend a lot of their time play-fighting and chasing each other through the branches.
Mona monkeys are an important part of Grenada's rainforest. As they eat fruit and move through the trees, they drop seeds in different places, helping new trees to grow. This makes them what scientists call a seed disperser — a creature that accidentally plants the forest as it travels. Without animals like Mona monkeys, many tropical trees would struggle to spread their seeds far enough.