Green Monkey

“The green monkey or vervet (Chlorocebus sabaeus) is native to West Africa and was introduced to the Caribbean islands in the 1600s. The term “vervet” is often applied to any of the species in the genus Chlorocebus as they were formerly treated as subspecies of the vervet (Chlorocebus aethiops). For example, the green monkey was formerly classified as Chlorocebus aethiops sabaeus. Green monkeys, and vervets in general, are commonly used in biomedical research as models for the study of neurodegeneration, diabetes and other metabolic syndromes, HIV transmission, and AIDS. Green monkeys are a natural host of the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) but, when infected, do not develop AIDS-like symptoms despite having a high viral load. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) likely evolved from SIV.”

Source: NCBI