Laura Brown Rodgers – Bringing Light

The work of the Samango Monkey Research Project, midlands KZN would not be possible if it were not for the generous contribution of philanthropist Laura Brown Rodgers of the Laura Brown Rodgers Community Fund of New Jersey in the USA. Laura is one of those beautiful people who shines light and brings hope to what …

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.

Samango Monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis labiatus)

Trail Camera Footage - A playlist of eleven videos from The Samango Monkey Research Project, Midlands, Kwazulu Natal.

Can the Vervet Monkey and Samango Monkey Hybridise?

The blonde samangos of Cape Vidal were first brought to my attention when reading  Thomas M Butynski and Yvonne A de Jong’s 2009 paper: Three Sykes's Monkey Cercopithecus mitis × Vervet Monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus Hybrids in Kenya. While some scientists have suggested that these blonde samangos are samango monkey X vervet monkey hybrids, Butynski and de Jong suggest that they are more likely to be erythristic or partially albino. Given our research to date on the alliances formed by vervet monkeys and samango monkeys in the midlands, and noting this phenomenon elsewhere, the feasibility of hybridisation between these two intergeneric species that are remarkably different as far as the amount of chromosomes they have, their behaviour and the different ecological niches they inhabit is never far from my mind. It is important to note that in the unlikely event that hybridisation may occur between these species that are genetically distant, a hybrid would probably be infertile. However, such a phenomenon would offer valuable information about populations.

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 …

At the Edge of Forest – Samango Food Sources

A bank bordering indigenous forest and a paddock has proved to be a feeding site of this samango troop in Dargle. In the video below, captured by one of our trail cameras, an adult female and three juveniles feed on yellow flowers: a Senecio species.

Life as a bachelor male (Cercopithecus albogularis labiatus)

Two days ago while driving along the main road in Dargle Valley, an adult male samango monkey ran across the road in front of my vehicle then disappeared into a Bluegum plantation. It is believed that samango troops do not wander far away from the forest patches they live in, but this is not the case for the bachelor males who leave their natal troops around the age of six years.