Samburu Monkeys

Category: Endangered Wildlife | Date: Dec 18 2007 | By: admin

Last month I received reports from Chege of the Steve Chege blog that Dr Iain of Save the Elephants had mentioned to him that he had seen a Patas monkey while flying over the western parts of Samburu National Reserve. I also received the same information from Bridget McGraw - Guest Editor of the ‘Swara’ Magazine of the East African Wildife Society. I later talked to Dr Iain and he gave me the information below confirming that it was indeed Patas they found;

“In October 2007 during the course of an elephant collaring operation, I sighted along with Daniel Lentipo a Patas Monkey in the western part of Samburu National Reserve. The animal was running through open bush and we got a good view for a few seconds. Both Daniel and I independently recognised it as a Patas Monkey. I don’t know if this constitutes a rare sighting but I have never come across one in Buffalo, Shaba, and Samburu National Reserves. The nearest ones are those in Laikipia. Dr. Iain Douglas-Hamilton Founder, Save the Elephants”

Photos: Manzolillo Nightgale

Patas monkey are highly dependent on Whistling Thorn (Acacia drepanolobium) for both food and sleeping sites.

I shared this information with Primatologists Dr Butynski and Yvonne de Jong and this is what Dr Butysnki had to say; “….Looks to be a very nice record…..very likely this is a ‘wandering adult male’….they do this sort of think…apparently….go off long distances from the range in which groups live….in search, I suppose, of new, distant groups and opportunities”

However, this remians the first confirmed report of the species sighting in Samburu district, though as Dr Butynski suggests, it could just be a wandering male from the Laikipia and not a resident group. Meanwhile, I am still working on the unconfirmed reports that there is a troop in northern Samburu, near Parsaloi which I will be able to verify early next year - see the previous blog for more details.

Iregi Mwenja

Project leader, Samburu Primates

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