Colobus Trust

As a recent volunteer, I am taking to The Colobus Trust blog to explain what I have done so far. I am volunteering for the month of January as a part of my schooling. Home in Canada I have worked as a wildlife educator and a rehabilitator for a wildlife center, I am looking forward to putting my skills to use here at the Trust and learning about the important work that is done here.

On my first day of work I was put to work quickly cleaning and maintaining the cages for the rehabilitation animals. Currently the Trust has 4 Vervet and 2 Sykes monkeys that are getting ready to be released. Most of them are ex-pet or orphaned monkeys (their mothers were killed on the road). Within these cases includes a female Vervet that was rescued from Mombasa where it was found being abused by swinging it around by its tail. The Colobus Trust has also worked very hard with one of the Sykes monkeys which is only here temporarily. It was hit by a car and needed to be hand fed until it was able to eat on its own again. She also had many neurological problems, including loss of vision, which appears to be improving all the time. Thankfully, with the rehabilitation work done by The Colobus Trust, these once helpless cases can be released and live the life they always deserved. The situation helped by donors such as Arusha T., Mark S., Black C. and Susan B. who have donated what they can- it means so much to us, thank you!

While working with these cases the staff ensures that their cages are cleaned and maintained everyday, including replacing old branches and having ropes for them to swing on and participate in normal primate behavior. They are given a variety of food to ensure that they are familiar with a proper diet and increase their success rate upon release. Monkeys that are housed here together often bond and create their own troop to be released together and significantly increase their survival rate after release.

In 3 days I have already learned so much about primate care. The people are so kind and the work is so important. I can’t wait to see what else this month at The Colobus Trust will bring!

Kristy Bailey

Eco-volunteer

All the staff at the Colobus Trust would like to say a huge thank you to all who have helped and supported us in 2009.  Whether you’ve bought a bridge, adopted a Colobus, become a member or sponsor or given your time and energy to our cause, we would like to send our heartfelt thanks to you! You enable us to carry on our work here in Kenya to save the Colobus monkey and it’s habitat!

I would also like to say a huge thank you to the staff at the trust. They work so hard and always with a smile!

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and all the best for 2010!

Cara,

Assistant Manager

Below: Some of the staff and volunteers at the trust

Some readers may be aware that Erica, the orphaned Sykes monkey who had been living at the Trust since July, died earlier this month. Erica had moved from the main house up to the rehabilitation cages, where we hoped to prepare her for her release into the wild. However, this was not to be. After being found bleeding from a wound on her back, Erica battled for life for over a day before finally passing away. After her death it was discovered that she had internal bleeding and a punctured lung.

Before her death, Erica had discovered that she could still squeeze herself out of the cage. This has lead us to believe that having temporarily moved out of the cage Erica was chased or even pinned down by a Sykes monkey in the local troop. Unfortunately there is no way of us ever knowing.

The loss of Erica will certainly be felt for a long time by anyone who knew her. We can only cherish the wonderful memories she has given us and be thankful that she came into our lives, however briefly.

The Colobus Team

Dear Readers,

We apologise for the lack of updates recently from the Trust! We’ve had a lot going on which we’ll update you all on in the next few days.

Regular visitors to our blog will know that we rescued a Bush Baby which we named Bahati. He was a favourite with the visiting school children as well as all the volunteers at the trust – even when we had to wake up every 3 hours to feed him! We taught him to jump over short distances and Marvo was building up to the ‘double jump’! Bahati was being fed on a diet of fruit and milk, but efforts to move him onto a diet of insects failed.

Last Monday he became a little weak but seemed to be improving and his appetite returned to normal. He was back to his noisy, active self on Tuesday. However when we woke him for one of his feeds on Wednesday afternoon he was very drowsy and would not feed. His condition did not improve and sadly he passed away later that day. As you all may know raising an infant without tender maternal care is very difficult and we did the best we could in order to see Bahati gradually become a healthy grown up Bush Baby but it was not meant to be.

Above: Our beloved Bahati with Marvo

He really was part of the family and his death has affected us all very strongly. We all miss him very much.

Thanks for reading and look out for our next update coming soon…

The Colobus Team.

The Vervet-Sykes hybrid data collection has become rather frustrating recently as he become quite hard to find. When he has been found, the hybrid has still been looking quite battle-scarred! The old injury to his front leg seems to be still hurting him as he holds it at an odd angle and limps on it. He has recently also received a bite to his tail, which whilst being superficial looks quite painful. The bad gash to the hybrid’s rear leg, however, appears to be healing up really well- especially considering how bad it looked initially. In other good news, the hybrid has been groomed quite often by one of the female Sykes. Rob, ever dedicated, has collected a faecal sample which we will be sending off soon so that we can get a genetic profile for the hybrid.

The Colobus Team

As the rains enter full swing, the staff and volunteers at The Colobus Trust have been working hard to prepare the tree nursery for what is surely one of its busiest seasons. This week, Dougie and John took it upon themselves to start sorting through the various plants and trees which make up the nursery.

Visitors to the Trust are encouraged to purchase a tree which is then nurtured and finally planted in the Diani area as part of the trust’s general conservation work. Unfortunately, as tends to be the case in Kenya, a number of these trees die before they can be planted and it is necessary to continually plant more, in the full knowledge that only a small number of them will survive. Over the past few months, the number of trees in the nursery has fallen dramatically as they struggle to deal with the harsh climate and salted water in Diani.

Despite these problems, all the volunteers have now been involved in this project and the area is looking much better. We all hope that the new nursery will prove to be a hit with visitors and will be more inclined to purchase a tree in the future.

We hope the rains continue year upon year as our trees continue to grow!

Dougie

Eco-Volunteer

Bahati the bush baby has been with us for about 3 and a half weeks now- he is doing very well and things are looking up. He has started feeding on solid foods lately which is a good sign; he particularly seems to like bananas and papaya a lot. At least every volunteer at the trust takes turns to feed him everyday because he needs to be cared for and feed every 3 hours. Bahati has recently learned how to jump which is very impressive and he is gets better by the day. We have built him a wooden house, where he spends most of his time these days. We are all glad that we have been able to provide a home and the necessary love and care that he needs, and hopefully he will grow up to be a healthy self reliant bush baby who will take his rightful place in the ecosystem.

We will keep you informed about how Bahati is faring on in the near future.

Thanks,

Mavinya

Colobologist

We have been nursing the two infant bush babies that were rescued here in Diani. They were so young that at first we were not sure whether they would both survive but we decided to try anyway. The first bush baby, who we eventually named Bahati (meaning luck in Swahili), was about 3 weeks old; the other one, who we named Gizmo, was about 2 days old. We all knew it was going to be a challenge, primarily because at their tender ages they critically need maternal care. We quickly included them into our daily schedule which meant they were always with someone who was feeding, cleaning or monitoring them. This was an eventful task because they had to be fed every 2 hours, 24 hours a day, needed to be watched and we also had to massage their genital area to facilitate defecation.

Everybody at the trust had already started to create a bond with Bahati and Gizmo, and they had become very comfortable around us but unfortunately the young Gizmo passed away last week after a week with us. He was just too young to survive without his mother’s care. We will continue to provide 24 hour care for Bahati who is doing very well and we will let you know how he is getting on.

The Colobus Team.

There were two surprise arrivals at the Colobus Trust this week in the form of infant Bush Babies. The first, and larger of the two, was brought to the trust by a concerned resident of Diani, who had discovered the Bush Baby abandoned on his terrace. Only a day later, another bush baby found its way into the house here at Colobus Trust. It was Rob, one of the volunteers, who should be credited for rescuing the bush baby. Rob heard an unusual clicking sound coming from the education centre. On investigating, he found Nala- our resident cat- playing with the Bush Baby a corner of the room. Had it not been for Rob’s sharp hearing, the infant, which we believe to be just a few days old, would certainly have been eaten. Fortunately, Rob was able to pull Nala away before any serious harm was done.

Above: The elder Bush Baby resting on Polly

Being nocturnal the Bush Babies (we believe these are Galago senegalensis) spend their day sleeping either in a large cardboard box along with a soft toy acting as a comforter, or held in a kikoi with one of the volunteers.  As luck would have it, the two bush babies are getting along together very well and could not be happier when snuggling up to one another for a nice long sleep.

Above: The second arrival!

While Polly has taken the role of mother for the babies, everyone is doing their part in helping to feed and look after them. We are giving the Bush Babies round-the-clock care in order to ensure their survival and hope to be able to release them into the wild eventually.

Please feel free to post any suggestions for their names, or alternatively email them to  info at colobustrust.org- we’d love to hear them.

Stay tuned for their progress!

The Colobus Team.

In the last few days we have stepped up our data gathering on the potential Vervet/Sykes hybrid.

For the past three days the Sykes troop with which the hybrid associates has been located on the old nature trail at Leopard Beach Resort and Spa, close to the hotel’s southern boundary.

The hybrid can be differentiated from the rest of the troop by several factors. Its fur is much more Vervet-like in colour than that of the Sykes. The most obvious difference is that unlike Sykes monkeys but in common with Vervets it has blue balls. There is also the fact that it just looks a bit strange that makes it stand out. He is also currently carrying a few injuries which make him more readily identifiable. He has a cut on its left shoulder which he can often be seen trying to lick, as well as an older injury on his right front leg. The injury on his leg appears to be painful as he does not put his full weight on it and so limps along a little. A male Sykes in the troop also has a couple of recent injuries to its right shoulder and leg. Whether this is just a coincidence or the result of a fight between the two we don’t know.

The hybrid is almost always found on his own and often on the periphery of the troop. Although other Sykes do move relatively close to him, the closest recent social interaction that has been observed is when the hybrid moved up to and sat next to an adult female Sykes. However she walked away almost immediately when he did this.

Above: The hybrid at Leopard Beach

Due to the density of some of the low-level forest vegetation, maintaining visual contact and following the hybrid at times have proved to be challenging to say the least! Fortunately there appears to be a pattern with their movement over the last few days so it has often been possible to head them off at the pass, as it were. On a number of occasions the resort’s staff have also been very helpful in locating the hybrid when he has been out of sight.

Most of the observations recorded so far suggest that the main activities the hybrid engages in are grooming himself and resting. This may just be a result of the time the observations have been taken rather than due to other factors. Most primates indulge in the majority of their direct social interactions, such as grooming and playing, in the early morning and late afternoon. So far the recent observations have been taken from mid morning till about 1pm, this might explain the lack of social interactions between the hybrid and other members of the troop. Hopefully a couple of early morning starts will show if the hybrid does interact with any other monkeys.

The question is how did this potential hybrid arise? We think that the hybrid may be the result of greater interaction between the Vervets and Sykes caused by the continued reduction in the availability of suitable habitat for each troop. Further study is needed to reveal if this is indeed the case. For example, however, just yesterday the Sykes troop and a Vervet troop met up with each other on a grassy area in front of the resort’s Spa buildings. The two troops freely intermixed but only two cases of direct interaction were observed. A juvenile Vervet and a juvenile Sykes briefly approached each other and touched before walking away again and there was a small fight between a Vervet and Sykes. The Sykes troop is also often in proximity to a couple of different Colobus troops but no direct interaction has yet been seen.

At some stage we are planning to dart the hybrid so that we can take physical measurements and to obtain a DNA sample so that we can have a genetics test run. However because we are currently critically low on our resources required for darting, they are being reserved for welfare cases only at the moment.

Hope to give you more information soon!

Rob

Colobologist