Imagine; you’re dropped in an unknown town, you don’t know anyone except the group of friends you’re with, you don’t know where you can sleep or where you can eat. You don’t know where it’s safe and what the dangers are. Everything seems hostile, smells are weird, so are the buildings, plants and trees, all the creatures you meet and actually you don’t know why everything changed all of a sudden. Welcome in the life of a released vervet.

Dangerous neighbourhood

And then of course you don’t even have the human brain capacity to figure it all out. So life was tough for our gang. At first their primary territory turned out to be in an extremely dangerous neighbourhood. Not during the night, but especially during the day! Like us, vervets are active during daytime. They spend time high up in the trees, but also need to be on the ground to forage and feed. Like in town it should normally be less dangerous at daytime than twilight or night. But in this town the gangsters are also active during the day… and friends got killed.

Strong bonds

Finding their way around in their new town the gang has been able to stay out of danger since May. No-one was lost due to predation anymore. The result of the hard lessons learned in the first few months. Although less playing and grooming was seen at first, bonds between animals improved. Being in such a dangerous situation could drive a group of friends apart. But our vervets stayed together. They are feeding together, warming up in the morning sun together and walking together, the groups stability is something to be proud off. Babies became juveniles, who became sub-adults, who became adults. That’s a good thing because besides predation another challenge awaits our monkeys. Other monkeys.

Rivaling gangs

When they just arrived our gang was large and strong enough to take over some territory from adjacent groups. Now with fewer animals, territory is lost again and new places need to be found. But with new neighbourhoods also comes new competition. And our group with only one big guy left seems attractive, because the group has what all the other guys want…..girls! And our gang has plenty. Yet the bonds between the animals in our group are strong and only female Florence decided to take off and go for a romance with one of the rivals. This lasted for almost 2 weeks but in the end she decided to get back with her friends in the group. Now she is pregnant….Is it from our Madson or from one of the other guys?

Madson did fight for his girls and was wounded on several occasions. No big wounds though and every single time he managed to chase the wild males off. Pretty impressive for a male that at the start of the release was still number 3 in rank. His scars give him a rough image. And considering now the pregnancy of 3 other females in the group, this image seems to work.

Gangs coming together

Just recently they started another exciting adventure. Two young rival guys joined the group. This is what happens in vervet groups: when males grow up they leave to find groups with non-related females. They are young enough to pose no threat to Madson and they bring in valuable experience. Knowledge about many different parts of town. For example where the water pools are to be found during dry season, which fruits to eat and where they can be found. This by itself is a mayor success. It will also bring new genes into the group and we hope Madson won’t kick them out again. At this point there is physical contact between the guys and the rest of the group and they seem welcome. Integration in the new town is complete!

So we have a group with strong bonds that wild vervets want to join, capable of surviving the dangers and we’ll have new wildborn babies soon, who will grow up free and wild in this beautiful new place.
A happy end of the story of a group of friends in their new and scary environment that turned out to be an amazing new home.

More monkeys found their way to freedom! 25 vervets were released in the beginning of this year. After the successful release of the baboons last year, hopes were high: they turned out to be masters of adaptation.

Meet Florence

Meet Florence. A very pretty vervet lady with a strong character. She will spend time with her friends, but also likes to sit on her own, arms and legs spread, soaking up the sunshine. Joining the group again at her own time or foraging along with bestie Sarah and boyfriend Madson. Like so many of our other vervets she had a rough start in life. Vervets are very social with strong family bonds. And she lost her mother and all the rest of her family and friends. Sad times. But luckily somebody brought her to the Wildlife Centre. A new chance, a new family! But then the next challenge started, the first test in adaptation. She had to relearn her natural behaviour. How to run and climb, avoid predators, to be social, groom and play with the other monkeys, when to stay and when to run. She went through a long process before she was ready to be released. In the end she had to pass the test: did she adapt well enough to join us in Kasungu??

Adapt to survive

She did well and joined her new family on this great adventure. But survival in the wild can be tough. A new environment again, new food and meeting new creatures of all shapes and sizes. It’s a dangerous world. Survival of the fittest: you will have to adapt to survive.

Florence’s group struggled a bit more than the baboons. Being a lot smaller, they make an easier prey and they know it… They found their new environment very scary and it took them a while to start exploring and find a natural routine. They met predators along the way and Florence lost some of her new friends, including Sarah. A leopard and a very big eagle have been taking out the ones that didn’t adapt fast enough. The vervet technique is to outsmart your enemies and they are learning as they go.

Tough job

By this time Florence knows exactly how to behave to avoid getting caught. This doesn’t mean she’s out of danger, it does mean her chances of survival have improved and are still improving. She adapted very well. She is one of the fittest and is surviving, facing the world with a strong group with strong bonds. Madson is still there. Although he moved up in life, filling the vacant position of alpha male, which put some pressure on their friendship. It’s a tough job, but he is doing very well! At the end of this year we hope to welcome their baby in our group, who will start his life wild and remain wild, adapting and surviving.