The diets of colobus monkeys consist mainly of buds, leaves and a little fruit. Often the leaves they eat have little nutritional value, meaning they must consume large quantities to survive. Their four-chambered stomachs allow them to process foods such as unripened fruit, mature leaves and toxic foliage that other types of monkey would find inedible.

As highly arboreal species, colobus troops rarely leave the canopy, springing between branches, which they utilise as trampolines to jump distances of up to 50 ft (15 m). Troops normally consist of 5 to 15 individuals, containing mostly females, their all-white infants and presided over by a dominant male.

The long black furs of these monkeys are flanked by horseshoes of white that join across the lower back. The hair around the face and their tasselled, nonprehensile tails are also bright white. Colobus monkeys are famed for flaunting these elegant adornments as they relax in the treetops, all 5 species being relatively mellow primates.