Ethiopia's grass-eating monkey — the only primate that feeds primarily on grass, living in the high Simien Mountains in bands of hundreds that graze like sheep; males have a dramatic hourglass-shaped bare red chest patch that flushes brighter during excitement and serves as a substitute for the rump displays used by other primates.
The grass eater
Geladas are the only primates whose diet consists primarily of grass — they spend up to 70% of their day grazing on grass blades, seeds, and roots on the Ethiopian plateau. Their fingers are specially adapted for this: short, stubby, and with robust tips for pinching individual grass blades. They are also known to eat bulbs, rhizomes, and occasionally invertebrates, but grass is the foundation of their diet.
The bleeding heart
Male geladas have a distinctive hourglass-shaped bare red patch of skin on their chest and upper belly, surrounded by a fringe of white fur. This patch flushes brighter crimson during excitement, dominance displays, and sexual arousal. Geladas live in cliff-dwelling groups where faces and rear ends are not easily visible — the chest patch serves as a substitute for the rump displays that other primates use.
Large social groups
Geladas live in the largest non-human primate groups on Earth. Basic social units are harems (one dominant male, several females, and young) of 2–12 individuals. Multiple harems associate into “bands” of 30–300 animals, and bands gather into herds of up to 800 or more on the plateau grasslands — a spectacular sight. Males outside harems form all-male bachelor groups.
Cliff-face sleeping
Every evening, geladas descend to sleep on vertical cliff faces, where they are beyond the reach of most predators. Their ability to grip cliff ledges while sleeping allows them to use habitats inaccessible to terrestrial predators including Ethiopian wolves and leopards.
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