This adorable baby Vervet Monkey lost his mother, so he had to be rescued and cared for at a wildlife sanctuary. He may have had a sad start and will never be able to return to the wild, but that doesn't get in the way of his lovely personality. Grooming is a very important part of socializing and bonding, for non-human primates, so he loves it when a caretaker gives him a scratch, but he decided this weird position was the best one for it! Monkeys are so funny!

The Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) is an Old World monkey, which means that it belongs to the Cercopithecidae family, the largest of all primate families, comprising 138 species of primates.

The term "vervet" is used to refer to all members of the Chlorocebus genus, although it is still debated whether there are several species or only one, with several subspecies.

They are native to the African continent, and can be found as far north as Egypt, and as far south as South Africa. They occupy savanna, open woodland, and forest-grassland mosaic, preferably close to rivers, being generally absent from desert areas and deep forest. It's a common and abundant species; flexible and easily adapted to secondary and highly fragmented vegetation, including cultivated areas and rural and urban environments, where it is often considered a pest, which gets them hunted and shot, causing many babies to become orphaned. In some areas, they become bushmeat.

Vervet Monkeys live in large troops of up to 38 individuals, with one dominant male. The females are usually related to one another, but many unrelated males may be present.

With a life-span of 10 to 11 years, females become sexually mature at age four, and males at age five. They breed from April to June, and a single offspring is born five months later.