Archive for the ‘Monkeys’ Category
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 groupThe 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 familyThe 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 groupCompared 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 SundayWhen 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!
Whenever I try to explain my address to one of the many bike taxi’s in Calabar, I simply have to say “Dat monkey place” and the driver immediately knows exactly where to take me. In the local area we are definitely best known for our monkey rehabilitation and education work, but people are less aware that we also protect prime rainforest habitat. Protecting rainforest in Cross River is vital, not only to preserve the immense biodiversity of the region, but also to safeguard the livelihoods of human populations.
In communities such as Iko Esai, that are heavily dependent on the forest for survival, conversion can have devastating consequences, particularly for the poorest families. As such residents are working with CERCOPAN to develop and implement a Land Use Management Plan (LUMP) to conserve their forest for both immediate use and the benefit of future generations. The 12,000 hectare forest area is home to elephant, red river hog, drill monkeys, bushbabies, guenons, buffalo and Situnga among many other species both large and small. In fact, only a few weeks ago I almost tripped over a Pangolin whilst using the light from a mobile phone to sleepily navigate my way to the camp toilet!
The Iko Esai Land Use Management Plan includes 4 zones; a core area (400ha), research area (2600ha), conservation area (12,000ha) and a sustainable management (for local timber extraction)/farming zone (approximately 8000ha). Whilst non timber forest products such as bush mango and snails can be collected in the research and conservation areas, all forms of exploitation in the core area are prohibited. This policy is upheld by Esira, Igwe, Obun and Gabriel, who patrol the area on a shift basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each member of the patrol team was once an Iko Esai hunter who has been re-trained by CERCOPAN to protect the very species that he once sought to kill.
It is very rare that hunters enter the core area, but even if they simply pass through, the chiefs council takes the matter very seriously. In fact, the last person caught walking within the core at night was fined two bunches of plantain, one crate of beer, two bottles of local gin and a goat! The monkey hunting ban is taken even more seriously as you can hear from the clipping from a speech made by the traditional ruler of Iko Esai that I have included below. Thankfully, not a single person has been found hunting or in possession of a dead monkey since the onset of the ban in 2006. chief-owai.mov
In the future, we hope to develop similar agreements with the communities immediately neighbouring Iko Esai. This move would offer the potential to protect over 40,000 ha of habitat bordering the entire western flank of the Cross River National park. The National Park is home to over 199 species, including Leopard, Chimpanzee and the most endangered of all African primates; the Cross River Gorilla. By providing a buffer to the park we would effectively help to protect all of these species and to maintain the integrity of this globally important conservation area.
Here is a blog written by Sagan Friant, a volunteer working on Mangabey research at Rhoko camp. At day break I grab a quick cup of instant coffee and make my way downhill from camp and soon begin to hear the loud whoop-gobble call the adult male mangabeys use to announce their territory. The red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus) at Rhoko live in a 1 hectare enclosure within the forest and are all considered potential future release candidates. Back in 2003, 18 animals (3 adult males, 2 adolescent males, 7 females, 5 juveniles, 1 infant) were selected to be moved to the enclosure, on the basis of history, behaviour and health screening all conducted at CERCOPAN headquarters. Since I completed my masters research here in the summer of 2007, the mangabey population has experienced 9 births and the population has now reached 40 individuals!
Though they are provisioned, it only takes a few hours within the enclosure to realize how close to being wild these monkeys have become. The mangabeys are true opportunistic ominivores. In just a week, I have witnessed them feeding on a wide diversity of foods found within the enclosure. Along with the typical leaves and fruits, we have observed mangabeys digging for roots of plants and biting bark off the sides of certain trees. Many of the plants within the enclosure have local medicinal uses, which may be exploited by the mangabeys. Eno, one of the keepers directed me to a tree which the mangabeys were feeding on called ‘debrabure’, and explained that it is used in the village to increase fertility. Perhaps this explains the booming population! The mangabeys do not stop with plant matter however, as we have also observed them digging for ants, pounding termite nests in an attempt to break them open, and discovering and consuming lizard eggs. When they are not foraging, these incredibly social monkeys spend much of the day grooming and playing. Over fifty percent of the population is juvenile, and these youngsters frequently wreak havoc throughout the enclosure chasing one another from tree to tree and swinging on lianas. Such roguish behaviors are not limited solely to the younger generations however, as adult and sub-adult males are quite active in their continuous attempts to maintain or improve their position within the hierarchy.
Akposi, a research assistant from Iko Esai, has been observing this population since they arrived to the enclosure in 2004. He knows the mangabeys very well, and has been helping me to recognize all forty individuals- no easy task! Together, we hope to use the past years of observations to learn more about the behavioral ecology of the red-capped mangabey, a species which has been under-studied relative to other primate taxa. Additionally, at CERCOPAN we hope to identify which animals (as an individual and a group) are most suited for release back into the wild. Prime candidates will be those that exhibit the most ‘natural’ behaviors and whose family is well represented within the Rhoko group. Once selected, the proposed animals will require further veterinary screening, and with governmental and local permissions and adequate protection, we hope that these mangabeys can then become wild. Ultimately, we hope that the local forest will be home to completely free-ranging mangabeys that can be studied long term within their natural habitat.
Another day, another baby, this time confiscated with assistance from the local authorities. The third Mangabey we have brought to CERCOPAN since December, but this time a female and a very demanding one at that! One of our keepers Austin was visiting Marion market on his day off and saw the baby for sale in a dirty cage surrounded by people and chickens. As soon as he informed Jerry and Uche about the baby’s location they decided that trying to reason with a trader in a crowded venue would be futile and that the only way to take this animal would be to do so by force. They also reasoned that being accompanied by the authorities had the added advantage that it would allow us to make a public example of the trader, therefore discouraging others market vendors to sell monkeys in the future.
The confiscation, despite considerable protest from the owners was over very quickly and the baby was brought back to CERCOPAN HQ. She seems very happy in her new home, but is proving to be an absolute handful; pulling hair, prising open and attempting to lick people’s eyelids, screaming as loudly as possible whenever she is put back into her enclosure and literally destroying anything accidentally left within her reach. As one of her primary carers at the moment, I will be very relieved when we integrate her into a group with Abonema and Murphy!
The arrival of yet another new monkey leaves us with a serious problem. Quarantine is almost full, our enclosures are at maximum capacity and if monkeys continue to arrive at the same rate as in recent weeks, we will very soon have nowhere to put them. Turning animals away would be seriously detrimental, not only to the monkeys themselves, but also to our education programme. Indeed, it would create additional problems informing people that they should not keep monkeys and that doing so is illegal if we are then unable to give any option of a safe place to hand in the primates they may already own. It therefore seems that our best option may be to extend our current animal accommodation and begin building new enclosures. Given the financial and space implications of such a project however, this is an avenue that will require considerable thought and planning before making the decision to go ahead.
Last week CERCOPAN began the 2008 education outreach programme in urban schools in and around Calabar. Jerry started the education programme in 1997 and in its 11th year it is more popular than ever. Over the next 6 months he will visit two schools daily, each for approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, lecturing on the topic “Wildlife protection, the forest and climate change”. There are 80-100 children in each class and as he hopes to visit between 50 and 70 schools, this means that he will effectively reach out to over 5000 children.
During his talk, Jerry explains CERCOPAN’s role in protecting monkeys and their forest habitat, the importance and interactions between wildlife and the forest, why monkeys do not make good pets and the benefits and functions of tropical rainforest to society. At the end of his presentation, every child is provided with a handout that they can take home and use to persuade others to change their attitudes towards wildlife. Furthermore, as a follow up, teachers from each school are requested to repeatedly reinforce the message that students should not keep monkeys as pets and that they should choose wisely whenever they opt to consume bushmeat.
In 2007 Jerry won the Charles Southwick Conservation Education Commitment award, which he will collect at the International Primate Society congress in Edinburgh this year. We are all extremely proud of Jerry and are very pleased that his years of hard work and utter dedication have been recognized. As part of the prize, Jerry was given a cash reward to be spent on any aspect of the education programme that he considered appropriate. Always keen to motivate and reward the children, Jerry decided to use this prize to purchase trophies that were presented to schools at our 2007 World Environment Day rally. The rally was attended by thousands of children and involved a parade, school inspections, essay contest, carnival and drama competition, all related to wildlife and environmental protection. The rally is held every other year and will next take place in July 2009, yet Jerry is already making plans and is determined it will be bigger and better than ever!
It seems that no sooner we manage to find space in quarantine for one monkey, another one arrives. Last Wednesday morning we heard about a baby Putty whose owner was looking to sell the animal. I waited for Jerry to return from one of his school visits and then the two of us headed out to the man’s home, armed with education leaflets and a travel box.
We arrived to find the baby in a poor state; wet, muddy, covered in faeces and tethered so tightly that she was unable to move more than a few centimetres. Indeed, the cord around the baby’s middle was restricting her bladder to such an extent that she was urinating almost constantly. Unfortunately, the owner of the animal was not on the premises and therefore Jerry had no choice but to try to negotiate her release over the phone. Despite lengthy discussion, the man was absolutely adamant that we could not take the Putty without a face to face meeting.
Obviously I was not happy leaving the monkey tethered for even a few hours, so despite protests from the staff on site, we cut the cord and transferred her to the travel box. I had no option other than to leave, but the guilt I felt all the way to CERCOPAN was almost overpowering and it took every ounce of strength not to simply rush back and rescue her. I knew our actions were for the best however, as when we are able to educate the owners and they hand over an animal willingly, they are generally less likely to replace it with another in the future.
Jerry returned later that evening but the man was not on site and his staff asked Jerry to be there the following day at 6am. At 6am the owner spoke to Jerry, accepted the educational material and requested that he be able to consult his lawyer before handing over the animal. After speaking to his lawyer and another visit from Jerry, the man subsequently demanded that he be given the opportunity to visit CERCOPAN before making any decisions (although he was not free to do so in the near future due to time constraints). Jerry travelled to his house again and again, leaving home at 5am in an attempt to catch the man before work, returning during the day hoping the he may be there for lunch and even checking back on his way home at night. Despite phone call after phone call we were no closer to rescuing the baby monkey, but at least the trips were allowing us to ensure that she had both food and water.
Finally, on Saturday morning Jerry and I made the difficult decision that should we fail to confiscate the baby by the end of the day, we would return first thing on Monday morning with the authorities to take her by force. At 1pm Jerry, Uche and myself arrived at the house, only to find that once again the owner was not at home. After several phone calls, we were asked to return at 5pm and when we did, we were told that the man was asleep and could not be disturbed. At 5.30 we all finally gave up and went home for dinner, but before I had a chance to put a pot on the stove, Jerry rang to inform me that the owner had requested we return. Once we were finally able to meet and talk with the man inside his home, it became very apparent that he had a great deal of concern for his pet and simply wanted to make sure that we would be taking her somewhere suitable. He had bought the Putty from one of his staff who had shot her mother for meat, but due to the nature of his job he was rarely at home and had been forced to leave her in the care of others. Over an hour of questions followed and just after 7.15pm we drove out of his gate with the baby and firm promises that the owner would discourage his staff and colleagues from keeping and/or shooting monkeys.
Back at CERCOPAN, volunteer Sagan helped me to give the baby a bath, clean out the travel box and prepare fruit and milk. I returned home exhausted, but with a real feeling of achievement, with persistence, determination and extremely dedicated staff anything really is possible.
After a week observing Abonema and Murphy in adjacent quarantine enclosures, we finally placed them together on Monday, and as you can see they are already inseparable. Indeed, Murphy spends most of his time clinging to Abonemas chest or riding on his back.
Unfortunately, no matter how close the two male Managabeys have become, food is still their number one priority and as a result we are being forced to find more and more ingenious ways to prevent Abonema stealing all of Murphy’s milk. Generally with patience, cunning and well timed ‘food bribery’ however, we can lure Abonema into another enclosure to allow Murphy enough time to drink his bottle in peace. The two will now remain together in quarantine until Murphy has competed his full three months and then we will have the complex process of trying to integrate them into a suitable social group.
I have just received some reports and photographs from the bush so thought I would post a quick update on the progress of our release group. Three months after the release of the Bebi, July and Nko, we have not lost any individuals, the group has remained in the area planned to be their home-range, no major health problems have been noted and the radio tracking equipment is still functioning. Since the beginning, the three animals have stayed together as a group, with July leading and protecting the others from any potential threats. Indeed, July has been observed chasing red eared monkeys on two occasions, when they entered the same crown as the group. July has also been observed copulating with Bebi on two occasions, although these are certainly more social mounts, given the weak probability of Bebi being receptive.
So far, the group has remained inside the Core Area, with no single foray into the research area, community forest, or main camp. Using a grid system established inside the forest on the release site, we have been able to measure and assess the size of home-range in addition to the daily travel length. The approximate home-range size is now between 7 and 8 ha, and the daily length range is 750m. The 2 first months were characterized by a smaller home-range size and daily length range (2.5 ha for 350m per day), since the group was located in part of the forest rich in food resources, especially fruits. Since the production of their top 3 food species decreased, and we have been able to discern a noticeable increase in time spent travelling.
Food provisioning is still carried out, but with a process of progressive decrease in the provided amount. During the two first weeks after the release, we supplied the group with food twice a day, once in the morning and again in the late afternoon. We then decreased the provisioning to once a day, usually in the beginning of the afternoon as we observed that the group could find enough food and fruit on their own. Since the beginning of January 2008 however, food is provided only once every two or three days. This new reduction should allow the group to become more independent, and to reduce human/monkey interactions.
The group tend to spend the early morning and end afternoon in the upper stratum of the forest, with more time in the lower layers/on the ground in the middle of the day. They own several sleeping trees they leave in the morning and that constitute central points around which they travel during the day. The Monas often follow the stream close to the release enclosure, walking in the water or on the banks, jumping from roots to trunks and foraging in the water on arthropods. Surprisingly, the largest percentage of time spent foraging is actually on arthropods, with fruits and seeds forming the second main food category.
July and Nko following the stream We are all delighted that the Monas are doing well and that they have adapted so readily to life in the wild. Working at CERCOPAN can be emotionally draining at times, watching animals that have been poorly treated entering our gates day after day and losing animals that we have worked so hard to save. Nevertheless, watching the footage of our newly wild Mona’s makes everything else we endure worthwhile. Not only does it mark a second chance for Bebi, Nko and July, but it also fills us with hope for all of the other monkeys that we will one day follow them.
On behalf of everyone here at CERCOPAN, thank you so much to Antonio, Theresa and Cathy for your donations. The donation from Theresa will be used to supply our new babies with milk and vital drugs and those from Antonio and Cathy will support our environmental education outreach programme in Calabar and surrounding rural areas.
As a non-profit making NGO we really are utterly reliant upon the generosity of individuals, companies and foundations to undertake our vital work here in Nigeria. Consequently, everything we are able to achieve is thanks to people like you. Thanks again
Yesterday, another orphan primate, an infant Mona named J.B, entered the gates of CERCOPAN. Abraham, our ever vigilant night security guard had passed a compound and observed the monkey riding on the back of a dog.
After speaking to Abraham, Jerry and Uche drove to the site hoping to persuade J.B’s owners to release him into our care. In the end, I would say that this animal was actually more of a donation than a confiscation as the family did not hesitate to hand him over once Uche and Jerry explained why primates should not be kept as pets. Indeed, the head of the family even requested permission to visit CERCOPAN HQ today so that they can learn more about primates!
The owners dog however, was not as keen for us to take J.B away and ran after the travel box whining. J.B spent all of his early life playing with and suckling from the dog and so it will be vital once he has had all of his vaccinations and tests to find him a new friend so that he will not be lonely.
J.B is our 7th new primate since the middle of October and our premises are becoming increasingly crowded. If this continues over the coming weeks, we may be forced to construct new enclosures or to extend our existing facilities in order to deal with the sheer number of animals. In addition, the sudden influx of primates is placing tremendous strain on our financial resources as the price of primate food has almost doubled in the last year.
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