fauna

Drill baby drill! The fate of African biodiversity and the monkey you’ve never heard of

Commentary by: Zach Fitzner

Equatorial Guinea is not a country that stands very large in the American consciousness. In fact most Americans think you mean Papua New Guinea when you mention it or are simply baffled. When I left for Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea, I also knew almost nothing about the island, the nation, or the Bioko drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus poensis). The subspecies of drill is unique to Bioko Island and encountering them was an equally unique experience. I initially went to Bioko as a turtle research assistant but ended up falling in love with the entire ecosystem, especially the Bioko drills as I tagged along with drill researchers.

Bioko itself looks a bit like a bean; if the bean was 779 square miles, made out of dormant volcanoes, covered in lush rainforest and floating in the Atlantic off Africa’s west coast that is. The island is part of the Cameroonian line, a chain of dormant volcanoes extending west from the mainland. Ten thousand years ago rising sea levels cut off a peninsula, creating Bioko, which is the main island of Equatorial Guinea, a small Spanish-speaking nation in equatorial, western Africa. Bioko has a population of about 260,000 spread throughout some 26 cities arranged mostly near the coast.

But Bioko is also a refuge for wildlife, including seven species of monkey and eleven subspecies, hidden away in the rough interior of the island. Wildlife biodiversity and endemism (species found only on the island) are high because Bioko is in the tropics, and an island with a relatively low human population. The Bioko drill is arguably the island’s flagship species…

(read more: MongaBay)                                (photos: Drill Films)

Strongest Evidence of Animal Culture Seen in Monkeys and Whales

by Michael Balter

Until fairly recently, many scientists thought that only humans had culture, but that idea is now being crushed by an avalanche of recent research with animals. Two new studies in monkeys and whales take the work further, showing how new cultural traditions can be formed and how conformity might help a species survive and prosper. The findings may also help researchers distinguish the differences between animal and human cultures.

Researchers differ on exactly how to define culture, but most agree that it involves a collective adoption and transmission of one or more behaviors among a group. Humans’ ability to create and transmit new cultural trends has helped our species dominate Earth, in large part because each new generation can benefit from the experiences of the previous one.

Researchers have found that similar, albeit much simpler, cultural transmission takes place in animals, including fish, insects, meerkats, birds, monkeys, and apes. Sometimes these cultural traits seem bizarre, such as the recently developed trend among some capuchin monkeys to poke each other’s eyeballs with their long, sharp fingernails—a behavior that originated among a small group of individuals and which has spread over time…

(read more: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/04/strongest-evidence-of-animal-cul.html?ref=hp)

(photo: (top, monkies) Erica van de Waal; (bottom, whales) Jennifer Allen/Whale Center of New England; Jennifer Allen/Ocean Alliance)

Cinderella animals: endangered species that could be conservation stars

Jeremy Hance

A cursory look at big conservation NGOs might convince the public that the only species in peril are tigers, elephants, and pandas when nothing could be further from the truth. So, why do conservation groups roll out the same flagship species over-and-over again?

Simple: it is believed these species bring in donations. A new paper in Conservation Letters examines the success of using flagship species in raising money for larger conservation needs, while also pointing out that conservation groups may be overlooking an important fundraising source: “Cinderella animals.

“Too much focus on “flagship species”?

Flagship species are animals used by conservation groups to raise funds; these species are almost always mammals, large, and appealing to the general public, often defined as ‘cute.’ This trend has long faced criticism: some researchers argue that in an age of mass extinction focusing on a few mammals trivializes the scale of the problem and leaves the bulk of the world’s threatened species without targeted protection…

(read more: MongaBay)

(photos: T - Pygmy Raccoon by Scott Camazine; TR - Pennant’s Red Colobus Monkey by Richard Bergl; B - Somali Wild Ass by Bigstock)

That Certain Smile: Why Cuteness Is Killing the Peruvian Night Monkey

Until recently, the nocturnal monkey, one of the world’s least known primates, had never been studied in the wild.

by Joanna M. Foster

On the border between Peru and Ecuador, orchid- and vine-draped forests cling perilously to the sides of steep peaks rising into the clouds. Every inch of bark is covered in moss, and plants grow on top of each other in chaotic heaps. Explorers in the early 19th century tramped through this lushness, recording thousands of new species.

But until recently, few outsiders had ventured into these remote cloud forests, perhaps avoiding the coke plantations or Maoist guerilla fighters that hid out in the area.

Now conservationists have been trekking into these forests to raise awareness for some of the most endangered species on Earth. And as they do so, they’re discovering animals that are entirely new to science. 

Sam Shanee, a conservation biologist and cofounder of the nonprofit Neotropical Primate Conservation, recently returned from a year-long odyssey in the Peruvian Cloud Forest where he tracked a small group of the never-before studied night monkey, Aotus miconax: Primates.

While there are seven species of Peruvian night monkeys, this one is only known to exist in a small patch of extremely fragmented cloud forest isolated between two rivers. Recently, I sat down with Shanee to learn more about these elusive monkey marvels and his adventures in cloud forest conservation biology…

(read more: TakePart.org)                    (photos: ippl.com)

astronomy-to-zoology:

Black Crested Mangabey (Lophocebus aterrimus)

….is a species of old world monkey found throughout the Congo and Angola. Mangabeys are highly arboreal and are typically found foraging in mixed-sex troops of 10-15 individuals among the canopies of trees, and occasionally on the ground. Like most primates they have a diet of primarily fruit, seeds, nectar and other plant material, they will occasionally take insects as well.

Phylogeny

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Image Source(s)

astronomy-to-zoology:

Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas)

Also known as the Wadi or Hussar monkey  the Patas Monkey is a species of ground-dwelling monkey found throughout Western and Eastern Africa. Patas are often found in large social groups that are headed by multiple females, these groups will only contain one male who at sexual maturity will leave for an all male group. Patas monkeys are often found on the ground where they feed on small invertebrates and roots.

Phylogeny

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Image Source(s)

It is also believed that the Patas Monkey, with its relatively long monkey legs, is the fastest running species of monkey, clocked at somewhere near 34 mph at a full gallop. This species is also known for having one of the finest mustaches in the animal kingdom, and enjoys a fine port with its cigar.