| Summary: | Antimicrobial resistance has been described in all ecosystems, including wildlife. Here we investigated the presence of methicillin-resistant and susceptible staphylococci in both colony-born and wild vervet monkeys (<i>Chlorocebus sabaeus</i>). Through selective isolation, PCR, MALDI-TOF, and whole-genome sequencing, methicillin-resistant and susceptible <i>Staphylococcus</i> spp. isolated from vervet monkeys were characterized. We obtained putatively methicillin-resistant staphylococci from 29 of the 34 nasal samples collected. Strains were identified by MALDI-TOF analysis. <i>Staphylococcus cohnii</i> (<i>n</i> = 15) was the most commonly isolated species, while nine other species were isolated one or two times. PCR analysis indicated that eight [28%] strains were <i>mecA</i> positive. The whole-genome sequencing [WGS] included eight methicillin-resistant strains (<i>S. epidermidis</i> (<i>n</i> = 2), <i>S. cohnii</i> (<i>n</i> = 3), <i>S. arlettae</i> (<i>n</i> = 2) and <i>S. hominis</i> (<i>n</i> = 1)), nine additional <i>S. cohnii</i> strains and two strains that could not be identified by MALDI-TOF, but genetically characterized as one <i>S. cohnii</i> and one <i>S. warneri</i>. Different resistance genes carried by different mobile genetic elements, mainly <i>blaZ</i> (<i>n</i> = 10) and <i>tet</i>(K) (<i>n</i> = 5) were found, while <i>msr</i>(A), <i>cat</i>, <i>fosB</i>, <i>dfrG</i>, <i>erm</i>(C), <i>mph</i>(C) and <i>str</i> were identified in one to three strains. Phylogenetic analysis of the <i>S. cohnii</i> strains based on SNPs indicated four clusters associated with colony born or wild. In addition, one singleton <i>S. cohnii</i> isolated did not form a separate group and clustered within other <i>S. cohnii</i> strains submitted to the NCBI. In this study, we demonstrated the presence of AMR and mobile genetic elements to both colony-born and wild vervet monkeys. We also identified a previously undescribed prevalence of <i>S. cohnii</i> in the nasal flora of these monkeys, which merits further investigation.
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