VERVET MONKEY OPTIONS AND SOLUTIONS
Geoff Nichols May 2007
The Zimbali Coastal Resort like many other urban areas in the region is now one of the few only remaining relatively large wooded refuges for urban wildlife. In this instance the Vervet Monkey is the largest visible daytime manifestation of the remaining “wild” fauna or “Tiny Ten” still existing in our region. Zimbali has an advantage over many other areas in that it is a defacto nature reserve with animals like Bushbuck, Blue Duiker and various Mongoose species being easily seen during daylight hours on a regular basis despite much of the site being a construction zone.
Before the housing estate about 60% of the area was under sugarcane. Leaving just 40% natural habitat for the wild plants and animals.
Now that development is sweeping through the site a further 10% of the remaining 40% area you are living in has been modified in one way or another, either as houses, roads and in your case golf course.
This in effect leaves around 25 - 30% of the total land area in a natural or wild state.
The Monkeys have in effect lost 20% of their natural habitat to the housing wave that has passed over the area.
Monkeys are territorial animals that feed, breed, nest and rest in very definite areas known as “home ranges”. With this diminished wild area the home range of a troop of monkeys that may have had sugarcane to feed in, a patch of forest to breed, rest and feed in and a riverine corridor to feed and rest in. Will now have a housing estate, golfcourse and roads super-imposed over their original area in which to carry out all these life requisites.
Now the animals remain in the same place but the land use they grew up to understand has changed into one they have to learn to understand.
Your gardens and sometimes the fruit in your homes become the new feeding areas, your golfcourse, street trees and landscaped areas become the movement corridors. If there is a large enough piece of forest or enough trees the monkeys will roost and rest in it because of the shelter provided by these large trees.
From work done in Burman Bush Nature Reserve where there were 4 resident troops of monkeys in a 50-hectare piece of coastal forest. A study carried out by Biology Students from the University of Natal came up with a figure that the 50-hectare forest could support about 50–70 individual monkeys.
In simple terms the Reserve had one monkey per hectare of forest.
Vervet Monkeys live in family groups or troops of around 5-30 individuals. Burman Bush had 4 troops with around 20-30 individuals the total of the troops was in excess of the carrying capacity of 70 monkeys.
Now Burman Bush is a natural forest providing natural foods plus the houses and gardens around the perimeter of the Reserve also provide occasional food for these animals. Monkeys being highly mobile are able to forage at least 500 metres away from the Reserve. So in reality the area around the reserve becomes large and the home range of these animals is extended to around 100-hectares.
The Zimbali Coastal Resort is in the order of 400 hectares in size. Around 110 ha of land has been left as conservation zone and it is essentially all forest except for about 10 or so hectares of open water in the form of ponds and lakes.
This in theory is the total area suitable for all the life requisites of the monkeys. And if we use the figure of 1 monkey per hectare of land then in theory we have 110 monkeys as a carrying capacity.
The estimated number of troops in Zimbali at present is 3 or 4 troops of about 15 individuals in each troop so a maximum of 60 monkeys are living in Zimbali. The reason that they are not coming into conflict with humans yet is because there is sufficient territory and food for the animals.
Remember that the territory will shrink as houses take up space. Food will also shrink or diminish in the short term but here you as residents can play an important role in ensuring that food will increase in quantity and distribution by planting more food plants of many different types to compensate for the losses during development.
Also that the food you plant feeds the whole spectrum of wildlife therefore creating more diverse opportunities for other forms of life.
How many monkeys does the Estate support?
This is where you as residents come into the picture. The Management Committee would like you to log your monkey sightings onto a form that we are providing for this exercise.
We want to know the date, time and where you saw the monkeys also how many individuals in the troop and what were they doing playing, resting feeding or in transit to another area.
While the information gathering is being done the management association is trying to improve the feeding and resting habitat for these mammals in the “wild” places on the Estate. These wild places are usually near the boundaries of the Estate and in the bush along the coastline below the line of houses in Milkwood.
This improvement is made by additional plantings of food and shelter plant species.
An interim solution is to plant quick growing food plants like Bananas and Papaws in damp and sheltered areas. Residents can help with this exercise by planting indigenous food plants in their gardens and leaving the bulk foods like papaws and other soft tropical fruits to the management committee to supply in the less human populated areas of the Estates. If residents want to plant fruit trees in their gardens the best species would be to use Papaws or Bananas.
Also use locally occurring flowering and fruit bearing trees as plantings around the Estate and in your gardens so that over a 12 month period there is as an even a distribution of food as possible over the Estate. The provision of functional habitats in Zimbali has been a primary objective of the development and this is one of the reason why the Management Committee is firm on ensuring that locally occurring plants that provide food are used in the landscapes.
Attached is a list of plant species that will help in providing for the future food needs of the wild animals at Zimbali once the housing has been completed. Remember that if you fill the bellies of monkeys you then are also filling the bellies of birds and other animals like the Bushbuck and Blue Duiker that are partial canopy feeders but rely on the Monkeys and birds to drop fruit and other food down onto the forest floor.
Click here to launch the list of of plant species.
Once you have provided the food for these animals please remember that they are wild animals even though they are habituated to humans.
Here are few tips to help you cope with these animals in your lives
- First and last rule of thumb DO NOT FEED MONKEYS
- Have screens erected at all opening windows – use a fine gauze that will keep mosquitoes and monkeys out
- Do not leave fruit out in sight of windows.
A few myths that need to be dispelled. You can read more about these myths in the “Living with Monkeys” pamphlet that FALCON has compiled.
Monkeys do not carry rabies and if in the unlikely event that a person is bitten do not panic simply clean the wound and have a doctor give you a anti-tetanus injection just in case of infection.
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