Colobus Trust

 Recently Colobus trust wrote about finding a new hybrid species. This was believed to be a mix of vervet and sykes monkeys. The picture we posted belonged to Yvonne A. de Jong & Thomas M. Butynski, since then the Colobus Trust team has been out on a number of occasions trying to learn more about these creatures. 

When I first heard about these animals, to be honest, I didn’t believe it. Normally sykes and vervets don’t like to interact very much.  Opposed to Colobus who do not eat the same foods, these animals do have a lot of competition for food. It is not unusual that they would live in the same area. But for them to be in such close proximity to one another that mating begins to take place is a sign of something. I believe this has something to do with the loss of natural habitat in Diani putting these animals in much closer proximity.  Until I saw these new pictures I believe you could have made the argument that this was just a funny looking skyes monkey. What is very interesting to us is that the testicles of this animal are blue. This is a very specific trait of the veret monkey and not sykes. With this evidence there is no doubt in my mind now what we are looking at. This is indeed a hybrid and we are very excited to share these photos with you today.

We have been spending much more time with these animals in the last few weeks trying to gather as much information as possible. We have confirmed two individuals but know that there are at least 5. The one we followed on this day was hanging out with a group of sykes. Although he was positioned on the outside of the group, he seemed to display some of the dominant traits. The other monkeys stayed out his way and on a few occasions he approached our team a bit aggressively.  It is a common belief that when these two animals of different species mate the offspring will be unfertile. The question then arises why are there so many and have they formed a troop of their own? These are things we here at the trust are looking into. We look forward to collaborating with other researchers such as Yvonne A. de Jong & Thomas M. Butynski on this subject. The Colobus Trust will keep you updated on what we find as well as any information about where other incidences such as this may have happened before.

Andrew Hayes
  Comments (1)

Recently the Colobus Trust has been making big moves to raise awarness in diani and all across Kenya. One big supporter of our cause has been the Daily Nation news papper. In the past few weeks two seperate articles have been written on the plight of the Angolan black and white colobus, our flagship speices, whos only remaining habbitat in kenya is here on the south coast. We would like to share these articles with our readers and thank the Daily Nation for its support. Media is one of the best ways for conservation groups to raise awarness. This is one of the largest news pappers in Kenya and is read by thousands of people a day.

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/633412/-/item/0/-/18yang/-/index.html

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/regional/-/1070/630462/-/7l0l1v/-/index.html

 We would also like to thank the Great Primate Handshake. This group was with us a few weeks ago and worked on some very important videos for us here at the Trust. The first video is going to help us with our volunteer programs. We at the Colobus Trust would like to build our volunteer program to allow us to complete many of the projects which require more man power. If you know anyone who is interested in doing some volunteer work or who may have some vacation time and would like a different experience please let them know about us. I can personally guarantee a wonderful stay and an experience you can never forget.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYgtC5597b8&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=094AF86F0F47431C

This next video was made for the Kenya ferry service. This Ferry shuttles some 50,000-70,000 people back and forth from Likoni to Mombasa every day. At the waiting station for the ferry are two large screens, one on either end. We have arranged for the ferry service to play our video for free. This is going to raise a lot of awareness about the major issues here in Diani as well as provide information to tourist on what it is we do here at the trust.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98fwLExkgEs&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=094AF86F0F47431C&index=2

 Once again I would like to thank you for joining us. As always small organizations with large responsibilities, such as the Colobus Trust, would not be able to exist without the support from doners such as yourselves. Please continue to support us and we will keep you updated on all of our projects.

Best wishes,

Andrew Hayes

Assistant manager

www.colobustrust.org

Diani is the most magnificent place ever, I come from western Kenya where people there are so passionate about farming of crops. I am very sure that everyone understand what I mean when I talk about crop farming, not many trees are found here, no forests, no wild animals live here anymore. My main point here today is about Diani, the place I currently live, I have been here for thirteen years now. I have worked with monkeys in trying to fight for rights and help them live a better life but for the last few years I have had sightings that are interesting to see. Lately I have seen a new species of monkey that looks like half vervet and half syke monkeys, I mean from the head they look vervet but from the rear end they look Sykes.This is one thing that many people may not want to believe because Diani has always had only four known species of monkeys, namely, colobus , baboons , vervets and Sykes.

(Photograph taken by Yvonne A. de Jong & Thomas M. Butynski)

I have never heard of cross breed amongst monkeys before,but now it seems to me that the real problem of deforestation in Diani is phasing out other species of monkey who have found it hard to survive on a very limited patch of coral rag forest remaining in Diani. I am now officially inviting people to see this new species so that we confirm a fifth species of monkeys in Diani. It will be interesting to see the effects of deforestation in Diani because many more funny looking species of animals will come up due to serious destruction we are witnessing here.

John Abuor- Colobus Trust, Animal Welfare Unit
  Tags: deforestation, habitat restoration, human-wildlife conflict, Research
Comments (2)

 Hello all, Andrew here and I am the new assistant manager here at the Colobus Trust. I’ve been working here for little over a month and it’s been an incredible experience so far. The team here has really made me feel welcome. I came from GVI working with Friends of Shimoni Forest and have now switched Wildlife direct pages to Colobus Trust. There has yet to be a dull day here at the trust and I am learning something new every second.  One experience has really changed my life. It was early Sunday morning and we already had two calls to pick up three dead Sykes monkeys…this was not going to be a good day.  We drove north up Diani beach road to the first call and arrived to find an adult female dead in the middle of the road with a male standing protectively over her.  After fending him off I managed to pick up the female, but while I was doing so one of the volunteers noticed another monkey lying on the grass just next to the road. This one was tiny and at first I thought it must also have been killed by the car that hit its mother. However, as I got closer I realized it was still breathing.  Knowing time was critical it took two of us to retrieve the baby, one to pick it up and the other to keep the male from attacking us as he tried to defend the infant. We rushed it back to the clinic and after checking him over we discovered that miraculously he had not sustained a single injury, despite the fact that he was probably being carried by his mother when she was hit.  He was, however, in acute shock and desperately needed to be rehydrated and warmed up.  We tried to give him baby formula with a syringe but he was too weak to drink and in the end we had to put him on a drip in order to get enough fluids into him.  Slowly but surely he began to improve, although for the first twenty four hours it was a bit touch and go.  As he grew stronger he became a lot more vocal and active, starting to climb bookcases and causing all the havoc you would expect a baby monkey to cause!   We think he is about two weeks old which means that he requires round the clock care. He needs to be fed every three hours (night and day) and someone to carry him round constantly to keep him warm and provide social interaction. It’s a full time job caring for Eric, named after Eric Sykes the British comedian, but we have become quite close. It’s going to be hard when the time comes for him to leave but I know it is the best thing for him. Until that time comes he will remain a member of the Colobus Trust family. He has become quite comfortable sleeping with me and will happily wake me up every morning by running around and playing with my face.  

Caring for these animals is one of the most important things we do here at the Trust. Animals like Eric who lose their mothers due to human disturbance when they are so young do not stand a chance in the wild without assistance. It’s going to be quite a job getting him to where he needs to be in order to be release back into the wild. I truly believe it is our responsibility to ensure that the destruction caused by our kind has as little impact on the wildlife as possible, both the individual and the species as a whole. It’s not an easy thing we do here and it would not be possible without the support of our volunteers and donors like you. I’ll be giving up-dates on how our new family member is doing from time to time so be sure to check back and watch him grow with us! Thanks again for all your support. Andrew Hayes.  

On the 26 June 2009, it became very clear to me that electrocution of colobus monkeys is one single change that we still have to fight tooth and nail. On this day a great supporter of the colobus trust and who is also a Diani resident called on our hot line to report a colobus monkey who had just been electrocuted next to her house. As a response team I had to collect all the necessary rescue kit from our small veterinary clinic as fast as my little legs could carry me along. Remembering how bad electrocution cases can be, I was completely caught in between passion for animals and the likely picture I was going to see at the site. I can assure you would not want to see one in your life time.

Rescue mission is one task that always require preparedness and dedication, the colobus trust posses both. It is only possible for the monkeys to be rescued in time if facilities are adequate and sufficiently available. On this fatal day the most unfortunate thing was just about to happen, the only vehicle the colobus trust has was a way at the airport picking up volunteers. A big thanks to Elodie, our acting manager, who allowed us to use her small car for this mission.

“Good lord” this phrase, though not very famous with most people, helped my feelings, because the said electrocuted colobus monkey had just gone up the tree after a huge electric shock he had suffered swept him onto the ground, no burns, no death. By the way before I forget, the most important thing we have done to prevent electrocution is insulting power line wires, and do you know what, one conduit pipe fixed on six metres of power line can save a whole family of colobus monkeys.

The one thing I still want to do for this survivor is to give him a name, a remarkable name, please suggest one for him, would you?.

John Abuor-Animal Welfare Officer-Colobus Trust.

“And remember conservationists and animal lovers do not keep pet monkeys even though they love them so much!”
  Tags: Animal Electrocutions, Habitat conservation, human-wildlife conflict, primate rescue, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation
Comments (3)

I’m Margi and I’m a new volunteer at the Colobus Trust. I live in the UK where I do freelance work for countryside organizations who want to improve their provision for visitors and local communities, and to help people understand the natural and historical environment better.

So in some ways the Colobus Trust feels really familiar, as its aims are not so different. But of course, the pressures and challenges here in Diani are so much greater, as Kenya’s coastal forest steadily disappears and with it the last refuge of the Angolan Colobus monkey, not to mention all the rest of the animals and plants in this precious ecosystem.

We’ve had a stark reminder of this recently, being greeted in the mornings by the sound of chain-saws from a neighboring property, where the owner is clearing land. At first, we thought our resident Colobus troop had been scared off by the noise, but last week they were back, calmly munching the young leaves of the neem trees that surround the Colobus Trust house, and bouncing on and off our roof before returning to the topmost branches.

This was my first sight of Colobus monkeys in the wild. They are truly stunning animals with their beautiful black coats and flowing white manes. It would be tragic if they disappeared for ever. But they have well-developed survival skills, and it’s good to know our ‘home’ troop is still around.

Today I saw one of the areas where they’re doing well, a three-acre patch of untouched coastal forest, where there are at least five Colobus troops. I was there to help Colobus Trust staffers John and Mwitu to trim the high branches of trees growing close to power lines, to stop Colobus and other monkeys using the high-voltage wires as a convenient walkway.

Electrocution is one of the main causes of death or serious injury for Diani’s primates, and although the Trust rushes to the rescue whenever they hear of a casualty, the victims don’t always survive. In any case, prevention is better than cure! So trimming trees and insulating power lines are important parts of the work. At the moment the Trust is running a big campaign to insulate as many lines as possible. It costs just $1 a meter to make the wires monkey-proof, but there are thousands of meters to do, so the Trust urgently needs donations for this work!

John and Mwitu are fearless climbers, shinning up a wobbly extended ladder to gain a precarious foothold in the trees, before lopping off high branches with a razor-sharp machete. I didn’t trust myself on the ladder, and I don’t think the others trusted me with a machete! So I stayed on the ground and cleared up the fallen branches, dragging them into the forest where they’ll sustain all sorts of mini-beasts and eventually rot down into the soil.

One of the local Colobus troops came by to check us out before we started work, and later in the morning we were inspected by three Suni (Africa’s smallest antelope) and a Waterbuck. Patches of forest like this one support an amazing array of wildlife, and it can survive alongside people – not just in parks and reserves – as long as we give it enough space and take care that our actions don’t needlessly destroy it. I can see for myself that the Trust does a great job getting this message across and backing it up with practical action.

My last blog at the Colobus Trust!

This is Heidi, eco volunteer and I have spent the most amazing last three weeks at the Colobus Trust.  I have helped to plant indigenous tree seedlings, cared for the tree nursery, helped with a re-release of a Sykes monkey, observed and photographed the Colobus, Sykes, Vervets and Yellow Baboons, help teach some of the local kids in the Education program and most importantly revamped the lovely Gift Shop!

We now have some ethically sourced and fair trade items for sale in our gift shop as well as having developed some positive relationships with local carvers and artists to promote conservation in particular working with “good woods.”  I am very sad to be leaving Diani Beach but hope to come back next year for a much longer stint to work at the Colobus Trust (fingers crossed!)  The Colobus Trust is a very worthy conservation project that is actively doing so many things in the community of Diani and beyond.  I hope I made an impact with the carvers as I showed some of them around and spoke to them in depth about conservation, deforestation and using sustainable materials for future generations.  Even if I only made some headway with a handful of local artists, I am very happy to have had the experience in meeting and working with some locals in the community (and practice some of my Swahili!).

Pics from top: Daniel, Daniel and me, Stephen

Late this afternoon I had to pick up the remaining Colobus key rings I ordered from one of our new “good wood” carvers, Peter James.  I met Peter about two weeks ago when I went around viewing all the different sorts of carvings and curios available in Diani.  Peter carves many animals out of all kinds of woods and he is very good at carving key rings with people’s names in them.  I noticed he used ebony (a hard indigenous wood) so I asked him if he ever considered making key rings in mango or neem instead.  He said he would try making some in mango wood as the material was readily available but no one had ever asked him for key rings from mango tree.  Now the second time I checked on Peter about a week ago I happened to meet his wife and two new little babies (twins named Esther and Mangi).  I could see his babies didn’t look well and they were crying their little heads off.  Peter was in a hurry and told me he couldn’t finish the order of key rings as he had to take his babies to hospital but could I please give him a large deposit for the key rings even though the work wasn’t finished.  I normally didn’t give the carvers any hefty deposits before the work was finished but on this occasion my heart sank as I looked at how ill his babies were and I gave him half of the money towards the 10 key rings.  I knew he would spend it all at the hospital or on medication for his babies.

The next day I saw Peter and asked about his babies and checked on the outstanding order for the key rings.  He said he was still working on them as his babies were in hospital and he hadn’t had time to work on them but could I give him another order for key rings and another deposit!  I was a bit reluctant but he pestered me to give him a chance to make a new style key ring with the sample Colobus Trust logo I had given him.  He promised he would make some good key rings and deliver key rings on time next week.  I kept checking up every day this week and some days Peter wasn’t there at his shop but his fellow shop keepers told me he was at the hospital with his sick babies.

It really is Pole Pole sometimes in Kenya (slowly slowly!) but today I picked up the last of the key rings for the shop.  I was very happy to have seen one of the twins, in Peter’s shop lying on the ground all bundled up in her blankets.  She still didn’t look that well but she was out of hospital.  I ended up babysitting Esther while Peter was still working manning his shop and finishing the remaining 9 key rings.  I really didn’t mind waiting and keeping Esther entertained by picking up Maasai carvings and talking to her in my best Swahili (I don’t think she was that impressed with my Swahili though).  I must have entertained her for about 30-40 minutes or until I ran out of all the different types of animal carvings and Maasai people that I had talking to her.

Unfortunately Peter’s little boy, Mangi is still in hospital but now able to get some much needed medication because the Colobus Trust ordered quite a few key rings for the new Gift Shop this past week. The Colobus “Good Wood” key rings which are made out of mango tree are all hand carved and painted by Peter.   They are very simple but I am hoping that some volunteers and other visitors to the Colobus Trust will pick up one or two as a souvenir and not only support the Colobus Trust but help support Peter and his family.  All the new items we have sourced are fair trade and ethically sourced (no middle men making a commission).  I really wanted to make a difference in some small way and I believe by helping the local people in Diani we will continue to build relationships towards positive thinking for our future.  It is up to Peter’s children Esther and Mangi to carry the hope of conservation so I am happy that we were able to support them this week.

Peter and his little girl Esther

You can help support Peter and his family by donating online now to the Colobus Trust and purchasing “Good Wood” items from our Gift Shop.  We will soon have an online shop where we hope that many people will support Diani local “good wood” carvers and artists through fair trade.

Thanks to everyone at the Colobus Trust for making my three weeks so memorable and special.

I will miss you all and look forward to coming back next year as a long term volunteer!

Kwaherini

Heidi, Eco-Volunteer

www.colobustrust.org

My name is Hamisi, Education and Marketing  officer at the Colobus Trust. It has been very wonderful interacting with the kids for the past twelve years. Most of our environmental education workshops are on Tuesdays.

Last Tuesday we had students from Madago Primary School. The kids seemed to be shy at first, but as the day progressed things started to heat up. Most of them were new to the site and found some facts to be strange. A colobus monkey has only 4 fingers! But one could tell from the look in their faces that they were really enjoying this session. 23 students accompanied by two teachers, had their uniforms turning the Colobus Trust premises into a colorfully area. Although all students come from around and they know most of the monkey issues, they learned a quite a lot from the two volunteers helping during the day (Heidi and Margi). Heidi, whose favorite word in conservation is ‘endemic’, managed to pump pressure on sleepy looking students. The entire day was fun altogether and all participants enjoy. Education was mostly based on Environmental issues, protection of trees, and being kind to all animals. Divided into four groups, named after the monkey species around (Colobus, Sykes, Vervets and Baboons), the competition was stiff. The baboons emerged the winners, maybe because they are always aggressive to the other small monkeys.

But the competition never ended here, because at the beach, girls wanted to challenge the boys on football. And with great support from their team captain, Heidi, they won 1-0. Boys you really let me down as I never believe in next time.

By the time we came back for the question and answer session, every body was thirst and drinking lots. This did not stop Hamisi, one of the smart students for the day from scooping home most of the prizes, many of which had been donated by our volunteers. At around 5.00 pm, Margi who had been very busy all afternoon also had to stop her work and come to say goodbye. Time had come for the students to leave.

We agreed to continue working together with them and very soon we shall send our team to plant trees in their school.

All this was possible from the donation we get through our blog. Whoever loves to support conservation education this is your opportunity. Please support us. Don’t miss next Tuesday as it will be more fun.

Thanks for supporting this vital programme.

Hamisi Pakiah.

Education Officer

It’s always great to have media publicity and I even happier when local papers pick up stories. The Coast Spirit, a new local newspaper distributed for free across Kenya’s coastline has published an article by ex-assistant Gwili which was taken from his very interesting blog post about the unique and very serious problems we are facing in Diani. Our two biggest issues at the moment are electrocutions (we have lost 14 monkeys since the beginning of 2008) and road kills.

Currently, we are gearing towards putting it another 170mts of insulation of open electric cables this month and hope to do about the same amount in July. It costs slightly less than a dollar to do one metre of cabling. If anyone would like to contribute, please do donate. THIS REALLY SAVES LIVES.

To read more about this, click on the image below. And thanks very much to the Coast Spirit for covering this critical issue…

We had a busy weekend at the Trust; our hotline was as hot as the sun that finally came out through the clouds. On Friday around dusk, we received a call about a Colobus that was hurt, crawling on the ground with its troop nervously encircling it in the nearby trees. After quickly loading the rescue-truck with a cage, net, first veterinary aid, gloves and other equipment usually necessary on an animal rescue, like volunteers, we hit the road.

But upon arrival we were given some bad news, actually the worst news one can get on an animal rescue:

-         I’m sorry, you’re too late, the monkey is already dead, said a man without shirt while guiding us to the spot.

And there it was, the beautiful juvenile black –and-white Colobus lying sideways on the ground, like it had just given up while running. The surrounding air smelled like burnt meat, once again we were dealing with an electrocution. Our vet Rona examined the carcass just in case there would be any pulse, but in short we covered it with a white sheet and headed back home, after deciding with the owner to insulate the power lines close-by.

Next day, Saturday, the sun was still out so we all went down to the beach to get a nice tan. Or so we thought… The hotline rang again, this time our own manager had spotted a limping Sykes monkey, probably hit by a car. We threw the necessities in the truck and rushed to the site. There was no apparent sign of the Sykes, but after looking around in the nearby bushes, we heard a loud ‘thump’ and saw a much disoriented juvenile female Sykes try to flee on the other side of a fenced-in private property. To catch it, we’d have to get in to the property, so we called and called for someone to open the gates, but nobody answered. What to do? In the rush, Rona and I decided to ignore the possibility of a guarding dog and simply climbed over the gate, equipped with net and gloves. It didn’t take long for Rona to catch the poor thing, but as she looked up to head back for the gate, a rottweiler, and a pretty upset one according to the amount of barking, met her eyes. Dilemma: Were we going to just stand there with the dog, adrenaline kicking and an injured monkey in our hands, or try to reach the gate? As the rest of the team tried to distract the dog and persuade a person who suddenly turned up to hold it, Rona and I slowly sneaked closer and closer to the gate, until we could climb it again. The focus switched over to the Sykes. We put her in the cage and hurried back to the vet clinic, where Rona did what was in her power to diagnose and treat her. It seems like she has fallen badly from a tree, hitting her head. She is blind (temporarily we hope) and doesn’t want to use her left front leg, but she has no fractures and has recovered well from the big shock she was in when we found her.

All in all a weekend with way too much time spent in the vet clinic, an experience we are trying to reduce every day, every week, all year round. The human-wildlife conflict is growing, with less land for more people and more monkeys. This time a juvenile Colobus had to pay for it, and I wonder who is paying next time.

Filip Celander, Colobologist