Olivia M.L. Stone

The Release of a Troop of Rehabilitated Vervet Monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Outcomes and Assessment

Rehabilitation and release have become central to the management and welfare of primate species in South Africa such as the vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops). However, limited research means that it is unknown whether rehabilitation is a successful management strategy for this species. This study describes the release of a troop of rehabilitated vervet monkeys and evaluates the results of 1 year of post-release monitoring. The released animals exhibited wild behaviours and established a home range. Survival could not be adequately evaluated due to the high number of untraceable animals, and troop composition was significantly different from that of wild troops. Improvement may be gained by radio-collaring more animals using improved technology, ensuring that troop composition is comparable to wild troops, excluding ex-pets from re-introduction and a more detailed assessment of the release site.

Animal welfare considerations in primate rehabilitation: an assessment of three vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops) releases in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

This study evaluates the methods utilised to release and monitor three troops of rehabilitated vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus aethiops) in South Africa. In all cases, monitoring was poor and conducted over a short time-frame disallowing release outcomes to be fully assessed. Wild troops were present at two of the three locations, casting doubt upon sightings of released monkeys and indicating that the release sites chosen were unsuitable and presented disease risks to the wild vervets. Eighty-three percent of monkeys were unaccounted for at the end of monitoring. Any future releases should make use of radio or GPS collars to track the monkeys, have a planned monitoring schedule covering a period of at least one year, collect detailed data on behaviour, demographics and ecology and should follow the IUCN Guidelines for Non-Human Primate Re-introductions.

Assessing the Release Success of Rehabilitated Vervet Monkeys in South Africa

Eight post-rehabilitation vervet monkey troop releases were assessed with regard to their outcomes, environmental aspects of release sites and consistency with IUCN guidelines for non-human primate re-introductions. Based on our criteria, none could be considered successful as survival rates were too low. Troops with the best outcomes were close to the mean wild troop size. Despite release sites falling into two major groups in terms of climate, land cover and anthropogenic landscape alteration, we found no clear association between site characteristics and projected long-term survival. A number of IUCN guidelines were not followed. Recommended improvements include implementation of quarantine, disease screening and environmental enrichment, better assessment of release sites, and fitting all individuals with tracking devices to monitor for >1 year.

4th Congress of the European Federation for Primatology 3rd Iberian Primatological Congress

Primates communicate in several ways by using multi-modal signals. Recently, researchers have started to approach primate facial expression in an anatomical, systematic and standardized way, to try to understand the complexity of their visual communication. In this study, the widely used tool for analysing human facial expressions, FACS (Facial Action Coding System), was adapted for orangutans ( Pongo sp.) following the same muscle-based methodology. Orangutans are an intriguing ape species with conspicuous sexual dimorphism and developmental changes in facial morphology, possibly attributed to visual communicative signals. The facial muscular plan of orangutans was considered by reviewing dissections from the available literature. Individual facial movements were classified according to the visual appearance changes and the corresponding underlying musculature. A diverse repertoire of detailed facial movements was identified by analysing 64 h of spontaneous orangutan behaviour on video. Seventeen Action Units (independent muscular movements and the respective changes in appearance) and seven Action Descriptors (by non-mimetic muscles) were identified and described in detail in the orangutan face. There is great similarity in the facial musculature of primates, which demonstrates biological continuity across the order Primates. However, when comparing orangutans’ Action Units with thse of other primates (namely humans, chimpanzees, gibbons and rhesus macaques), we found some interesting differences implying that there is a specialization in visual signals for each species. OrangFACS will facilitate future studies on orangutan social communication as well as systematic studies on facial expressions between primate species, thus providing a valuable insight into the evolution and function of communication and emotion.

Contents Vol. 82, 2011

248 20th Meeting of the Italian Primatological Association Bussolengo, April 10–13, 2011 Editors: Spiezio, C.; Fistarol, L. (Bussolengo) 282 Book Reviews 244 Acknowledgement to the Reviewers No. 6