The vervet (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) is a small, black-faced monkey, common in East Africa. Cercopithecus means long-tailed monkey. The vervet monkey’s face is black with white colouring around the eyes and on the eyelids. The blue testicles are an advertisement to other nearby monkeys on the position of the monkey in the social order. In other words, a dominant alpha male who is ready to mate will have the bluest balls. Vervets live in social groups ranging from 10 to 70 individuals. The name vervet is a mystery – though it is thought to be French. It may be short for vert grivet, literally "a green grivet," indicating it was greener than the kind of monkey known as a grivet.
