Baboons (Papio ursinas) – From the Magaliesberg to the Midlands

What is it about nonhuman primates that they are capable of transforming our perception? “I was only truly happy when I was with the baboons. They were my emotional center and an important part of me remained with them even if I was physically distant”; wrote anthropologist Shirley Strum who had been studying olive baboons …

Walking Wild – The Samango Safari

The Samango Safari includes a hike through indigenous mistbelt forest and grasslands, beginning at Lemonwood Cottages on the edge of the forest in the Dargle Valley conservancy in the midlands of Kwazulu Natal.

Allies – Samangos and Vervets

The vervet monkey has a multi-male social system in comparison to the samango monkey’s one male social system hence one reason for the two troops foraging together may be that the multi-male vervet troop brings added protection to the samango troop which consists of adult females, one male and their youngsters.

Samango Monkey Research Project – Update, August 2018

  Dispersing Samango Males - Karkloof and Dargle 23rd July, 2018 Silence saturated the air after Lizzie and I left Mbona Private Nature Reserve’s (http://mbona.co.za/) tranquil, indigenous forest where we’d spent a few hours deep in the forest watching samango monkeys. Turning off Karkloof Road, onto a hazy road, in the direction of Karkloof Canopy …

Do antelopes mimic monkeys?

Observing Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) in the company of baboons and monkeys is a relatively common sight in South Africa. It's thought they have a symbiotic relationship, one that assists both species to outwit a lurking predator or make food more accessible. But how much do we know about their interactions?

Declining primate populations – where samangos and humans meet

Sixty percent of primate species are heading towards extinction According to the most recent scientific assessment, human influence has caused 60% of wild primate species to head towards extinction with three quarters declining steadily.

Friends in high places: The vervet (Chlorocebus pygerythrus)/samango (Cercopithecus albogularis labiatus) relationship

While following up on the fascinating relationship between two species at one of our study sites - a matrix habitat where humans and nonhuman primates co-exist - we came across the vervets and samangos eating small yellowish, hairless, figs plucked off the branches of an evergreen Forest fig.