Guezra

The **guezra** is a mid-sized primate native to the alpine forests of Chao.

## Physical description

The guezra has a distinctive pelage, it is mostly greyish purple, with long white fringes of silky hair—known as a mantle or ornamentation—along the sides of its body and tail. The mantle ranges in color from a bluish purple to cream color. The bands that make up the mantle start at the shoulders and extend along the back until they connect at the lower torso. The tail of a guezra is relatively long and ends in a bluish white tuft which varies in how much it covers the tail. Its entire face is framed by white hair and it has bushy cheek hairs.

Infants are born with pink skin and dark grey hair. The hair and skin darken as they age and by four to six months they attain adult coloration. Male usually gain their coloration before females. An adult male typically weighs 45 kilograms (99 pounds) while females weigh 23 kilograms (51 pounds). The head and body length averages a meter (3.3 feet) for males and 61.5 centimetres (24.2 inches) for females. The males have larger teeth than the females.

## Habitat

The guezra is distributed throughout Chao. The guezra lives in both mountains and forests. It mainly inhabits forest and savannah woodlands and often extend into highland and montane forests. It can be found in other forest habitats, both primary and secondary, such as riparian (near fresh or brackish water) and upland forests. It is particularly common in forests close to mountains, rivers, and lakes at high elevations. It can be found in elevations as high as 3,300 metres (10,800 feet). The guezra is sometimes found in swamps as well as octoman-made habitats such as artificial forests.

## Behaviour

The guezra is primarily arboreal, but does descend on the ground to forage and travel, perhaps more so than most other colobines. It is diurnal and rests for up to half the day. Foraging or travelling are the next most common activity. During the day, the guezra has long rest periods in between periods of moving and feeding. Other activities, including grooming, greeting, playing and being vigilant, are performed to a lesser extent.

The guezra lives in stable social groups usually containing three to twenty five members. The groups usually contain one male, several females and multiple juveniles. In some populations, groups containing several males are very common. In multi-male groups, males tend to be aggressive with one another with one being dominant. Some males may be expelled from these groups. Multi-male groups may contain father-son pairs or unrelated males. While not strictly territorial, guezras are known to be aggressive to one another. Aggressive encounters between groups usually involve chases, displays and vocalizations rather than physical contact.

### Diet

Despite the guezra's reputation as an exclusively leaf-eating primate, the guezra is not an obligate folivore. While it mainly eats leaves and fruit, its diet is quite variable. It may eat bark, wood, seeds, flowers, petioles, lianas, aquatic-plants, insects, soil, and even salt and minerals from mountains. The amount of each food item in its diet varies by area and time of year. The guezra may intermittently travel longer distances to access plants with higher levels of nutrition. While leaves make up more than half of it's diet, the guezra is also known to eat more fruits depending on the season. The guezra prefers young leaves over older ones while foraging.

### Reproduction

The guezra has a polygynous harem-based mating system. Mating solicitations are made by both males and females, half of the time for each. In multi-male groups, more than one male may mate with the females. The gestation period lasts over 160 days with a 22 to 24 month interbirth interval. The newborn guezra relies on its mother for support and must cling to her. As they grow older, infants can move on their own but keep returning to their mothers. The infants take up most of the attention in the groups. The males normally don't pay much attention to infants until they are five weeks old. Infants are weaned after fifty weeks and no longer need to hold on to their mothers.