The Colobines are a group of Afroeurasian monkeys that exhibit extraordinary behavioural and ecological diversity. With long tails and diverse colourations, they are medium-sized primates, mostly arboreal, that are found in many different habitats, from rain forests and mountain forests to mangroves and savannah. Over the last two decades, our understanding of this group of primates has increased dramatically. This volume presents a comprehensive overview of the current research on colobine populations, including the range of biological, ecological, behavioural and societal traits they exhibit. It highlights areas where our knowledge is still lacking, and outlines the current conservation status of colobine populations, exploring the threats to their survival. Bringing together international experts, this volume will aid future conservation efforts and encourage further empirical studies. It will be of interest to researchers and graduate students in primatology, biological anthropology and conservation science. Additional online resources can be found at www.cambridge.org/colobines.

Within the Colobinae, the genera Rhinopithecus (snub-nosed monkeys), Pygathrix (douc langurs) and Nasalis (proboscis monkeys and simakobus) are informally grouped as the odd-nosed monkeys. While these genera comprise an eclectic mix featuring remarkable natural histories, this ecologically diverse group previously received little attention from the scientific community. In the last decade, however, a plethora of new and exciting research has occurred on these understudied colobines. In this book, we present a summary and synthesis of this new knowledge, looking to compare across taxa and scientific disciplines and generate in-depth discussion of what odd-nosed monkeys can tell us about the unity and diversity of the primates as a whole. This review follows the central themes of primatology and covers topics as diverse as taxonomy and phylogeny, functional morphology, spatial and dietary ecology, activity patterns, social organisation, life histories and ends with an overview of the conservation status of these enthralling and endangered primates.