Khiffah

The khiffah, Armasenex aedificator, is a gibbon-like, cercopithecine Old World monkey from the tropical forests of Asia whose defense against the striger, its most important predator, is based on its social organization, in After Man: A Zoology of the Future. It is a mostly herbivorous omnivore.

It lives in tribes of up to twenty individuals and builds defensive citadels in the boughs of trees. These large, hollow nests, woven from branches and creepers and roofed with a rainproof thatch of leaves, have several entrances, usually situated where the main branches of the tree thrust through the structure. Most of the work of food gathering and building is carried out by females and young males. The adult males remain behind to defend the citadel and have developed a unique set of features to carry out their highly specialized role; horny armor over the face and chest and vicious claws on the thumb and forefinger.

It is not unknown for a female to taunt a passing striger and allow herself to be pursued back to the citadel, dashing to safety while the striger finds its way barred by a powerful male capable of disemboweling it with a swipe from its terrible claws. This apparently senseless behavior, however, provides the colony with fresh meat, a welcome supplement to their mostly vegetarian diet of roots and berries. Only young and inexperienced strigers are caught this way.