Vervets, Malawi 2014

In January 2014 we released a group of 25 vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus rufoviridus) back into the wild and we were there to guide them every step of the way. The Lilongwe Wildlife Centre (LWC) rescues animals who are orphans and victims of the illegal pet and bushmeat trade, many of which are primates. The centre aims to release these animals wherever possible back into the wild.

For LWC we prepped the release group. This means that we chose the right animals considering survival skills, social interactions and specific male-female ratios that are found in the wild. We trained their survival skills and during the year of prepping the troop is being studied by us, master students and volunteers.
When released into Kasungu National Park Malawi we stayed with them to keep them safe, monitor them and do research. Vervets are a difficult species to release and the group had their share of losses, but they stayed together, learned and survived. With quite some help from us, which we reduced over time. They’re living free and wild now!

For us this year was harder and easier at the same time. We had a lot of help from two master students and the release site was closer to our camp. This especially made a big difference in the intense first three months where we follow the animals from dusk till down every day to keep them safe. On the other hand we lost more of our monkeys than the year before which is always sad because you bond with them. But seeing the group overcome these losses and the difficulties of life in the wild and succeed in the end made it all worthwhile!