CERCOPAN

Category: Cercopan, Nigeria, Uncategorized | Date: Jun 25 2008 | By: cercopan

A blog from Kristine ..our new Office/Finance Manager…. 

Last Wednesday morning CERCOPAN, Calabar awoke in a sea of murky muddy water resulting from the previous evening’s storm. At 6:30 am I stepped out of bed onto the cold squishy wetness of my submerged bedroom floor carpet and that was only the beginning. I opened my door to find a miniature Cross River runoff flowing through my hallway. My shampoo was leisurely floating downstream from the shower room to join various other household items that had congregated in the living room throughout the night. It was definitely a sight to see. Who needs coffee to perk you up in the morning when you’ve got such an enormous catastrophe to jolt you awake? However, undaunted and once again, the CERCOPAN family joined together to tackle the seemingly insurmountable mess and what could have taken weeks was cleared up in mere hours.

 The hallway at 6am

Any doubts about the onset of the rainy season were quickly dispelled. The storm arrived late in the evening when all was still. The monkeys were all nestled into their nooks, and I was fast asleep inside, oblivious to the onslaught. Unlike most large storms this one was actually rather quiet, but the lack of sound was compensated for by the sheer volume of water brought with it. Sheets and sheets poured down from the sky so rapidly that the earth did not have a chance to defend itself. There was simply too much water for the ground to absorb.  Seeping slowly the water crept in throughout the course of the night to wreak its silent sabotage. It was an every-item-for-itself battle and the water won.

Wading through the remaining six inches of water at dawn, Claire, the Deputy Director, woke me up by gently tapping on my door uttering the words that nothing good could follow – “Um, Kristine, you had better come take a look at this…”. At first I thought the bathroom pipe had burst (as it is very leaky), or a sink had overflowed or something. Not this. Not a flood. Not in my house. Of all the things you expect to happen here, this was just not one of them.

The Office after considerable bailing out of water - still wet!

After a quick evaluation of the damage it was clear this was going to be a huge job. The mud was everywhere in every single room. Some were worse than others, but nothing had been left unaffected. My bedroom, the kitchen, hallway, living room, both offices, and the vet lab were all submerged. Thankfully, everyone came to our aid, including off duty staff. If ever there was a perfect example of team work, this was it. Immediately everyone took up specific tasks, me and Claire, the house staff, keepers, the veterinarian, the education officer and assistant, were all scooping out bucket after bucket of water, moving furniture, pulling up carpets, digging out silt from the trenches and mopping the floors. Amongst singing and whistling, laughing and friendly banter everyone just got right down to it and the job was finished in record time. After a few hours there was a noticeable sign of hope that this would actually get sorted out, then at 3pm, and after only a few short breaks, the entire house and office were not only completely tidied, but even cleaner, more organized and revamped into a nicer, more welcoming space.

 Sitting room looking very clean (although without a carpet) after the cleanup

Though the damage was profound, we were lucky none of the monkeys were affected. Quite a few things in the building, which we are still working on fixing, were ruined or damaged but we are thankful that no one got hurt and appreciative that we have such wonderful staff who really know how to pitch in when it counts. The water level must have been much higher throughout the night as many large objects were carried 20 feet away from their original location. Unfortunately the batteries charging our backup power supply, and also the charger for our radio to communicate with our bush site, among other things, were severely damaged due to the height the water reached. Luckily we have been able to re-wire our power supply but still remain unable to communicate with the bush site. We all remain hopeful and thankful that things continue to work out, and find solace in knowing that we have such an amazing group of people who, together, can face any challenge and triumph against any test we are put up to. As proven, once again, on this day, the CERCOPAN team is a solid shield that can protect against even the most violent of storms, in all ways, shapes and forms.  Nevertheless, we are pleased that these floods occur only rarely.

Cercopan staff hard at work

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Jun 04 2008 | By: cercopan

After over two months without an internet connection, we are finally back online this week! Given that our operations have been seriously hindered without it, the return of the net has been a serious cause for celebration in the office. I must apologise for our lack of replies and posts on the blog over this time, but hopefully now that things are back to normal we will be able to access the site daily.

Firstly and most importantly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who have donated over the period we were offline. I am very sorry that we have not been able to acknowledge your contributions until now. We would like to thank:

Anonymous - 1st - 13th May

Theresa Siskind - 22nd - 28th April

Emerentiane MC and Anonymous 15th - 22nd April

Anonymous - 22nd-31st March

Theresa Siskind - 8-14th March

Lucia C. – 1-7th March

More recently, since the launch of the Enclosure Appeal, we received $175 in donations from Anonymous, Antonio C, Sherri S and Wanda H. Thank you so much for your support, we still have a long way to go, but every donation really does bring us closer to our goal.

I will keep you all updated on the progress of this vital project.

Mona Monkey Mimi at Calabar HQ

5 responses so far

Category: Cercopan, Conservation, Monkeys, Rain Forests | Date: Jun 03 2008 | By: cercopan

Here is another blog from Sagan, our Mangabey researcher….

With 40 mangabeys living together in 1 hectare, social interactions are endless.  As I am now able to recognize all individuals within the group, I cannot help but to be overly intrigued by the dynamics of the family.

Sagan Observing the group

The adult females are the central hub of the group.  The males spend much of the day fighting over them and many of the juveniles still rely on them as a source of milk, comfort, and protection.  In a seemingly peaceful manner, the females spend much of their day looking for food and grooming. They hardly seem to notice the havoc the males and juveniles create around them.  And it is plenty!  During periods of intensified sociality, the dominant female Odudu moves across the population grooming animals for short periods inspecting their wounds.  These short grooming bouts seem to be her way of making sure everyone is happy and re-affirming her position in the group.  She is a graceful and charismatic monkey, and with half of the population descended from her, she is truly the mother of the group.

Odudu and some members of her family

The males on the other hand expend their energy quite differently.  Though they do spend time grooming and caring for offspring, their efforts tend to be directed towards mate acquisition and guarding. When females in the group are cycling (adverstised via large pink sexual swellings) the aggression in the group noticeably increases.  The female will forage her way through the day as usual, but at this time she will be followed by one or more males.  At peak swelling (when she is most fertile), these follows can last all day.  When there is more than one interested male, the lower ranking male follows most closely and will in turn be followed by a higher ranking male.  And if she is particularly sexy, sometimes a third male will join in and follow her and the two other males.  The male mangabeys are certainly dedicated to the cause!  The pattern of interactions throughout the day is quite repetitive with the higher ranking male chasing off the lower ranking individuals whenever they get too close to the female.  I imagine this strategy is a way for the dominant male to limit the number of matings by lower ranking males without needing to exert physical forms of violence. 

Clyde, the dominant male of the group

Compared to the large amount of chasing and loud screaming vocalizations throughout the day, the amount of physical fighting and thus injury is relatively low (though some nasty injuries do occur!). When more than one female is swelling it becomes difficult for a dominant male to monitor.  If the dominant male slacks in his vigilance the lower male will seize the opportunity (if the female permits!).    Last month we had 5 adult females swelling at once!  It is during such times that lower ranking males have an opportunity to mate and possibly sire some offspring.  The specific strategy used by females to ensure that their offspring are sired by the most fit male is unknown.  We hope to be able to paternity tests within the group in order to determine who is actually fathering the juveniles in this ever so growing population.  Such information is also useful in investigating whether inbreeding avoidance mechanisms are being upheld in a growing isolated population.

Odudu and adult male Sunday

When the group is faced with periods of seemingly endless sex and violence the juveniles do their best to stay out of the way.  Meanwhile, some of the older individuals will sometimes join in to try and establish their spot within the group.  It is a critical time in the group at the moment as we have several growing males that will soon become adult.  In the wild males disperse from their native group to find a new group full of unrelated females.  As this is not possible within our semi-captive group we are curious to see what will happen.  Otu, a 7 year old male and Odudu’s son, is the first male to become adult within the group.  For now, he keeps on the periphery of the group (though he doesn’t seem to be low ranking).  This may be a result of his inability to disperse.  Will he establish his own splinter group formed of unrelated females?  Or is he bound to be an outcast?  This situation is particularly interesting as it can be used as a model for growing wild populations that are isolated in forest fragments created by deforestation.  We are all very curious to see what happens, and very keen for some of these managbeys to be released!

3 responses so far