This is especially true of animals with complex social systems; in the wild, age, sex, pair bonds, family lineages and social hierarchies all play a part in determining who gets on with whom.  Geladas, one of Ethiopia’s endemic primates, have an especially complex social system.  Females make up the core of a troop and all the females are related.  They are grandmothers, mothers, daughters, aunts and sisters.  It is the females who choose the alpha male, who will guard, lead and mate with them.

Thus, when a female gelada is taken out of her troop, by some unthinking human who thinks she would make a nice “pet”, it means she is also taken away from her family.  The chances of her being successfully rehabilitated are very small, as no other family will accept her.

The only option we at Born Free have, when we receive orphaned female geladas, is to try to form a mini-troop from unrelated females, and this is what we attempted yesterday.  Lily has been in our care since August last year. She has been living alongside Harbert, a male gelada. Then in January, we received Goshi, who had been confiscated by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority from a man who was seen walking her down the street.  Once Goshi’s quarantine period was completed, it was time to see if Lily would accept her.

Goshi © BFF / SB

We put Goshi in a travel box and then encouraged Lily into a separate travel box.  The two geladas could see each other but could not interact.  While they were squeaking at each other, we cleaned and scrubbed out Lily’s enclosure.  We wanted to remove as much of her scent as possible and to try to create something of a new environment so when the two were actually in contact Lily would not instantly feel Goshi was in her “home”; it would be new for both.  Finally, we put down a deep bed of cut grass which forms the basis of a gelada’s diet.

We let Goshi out first.  She just clung to one of the female carers, obviously very nervous.  Once Lily was free, Goshi climbed down and almost immediately they started grooming.  Goshi was still tense but soon she began making the happy noises so characteristic of geladas.  Lily groomed her and then Goshi returned the favour.  It all went very easily.

We left them that night, huddled together adjacent to Harbert.  The two females have clearly accepted each other and they clearly like him.  All of which bodes very well for a successful future release; they can become their own little troop.

Goshi grooming Lily © BFF / SB

Goshi still grooming © BFF / SB

Goshi being groomed © BFF / SB

Nhkata © LLWC

Lilongwe Wildlife Centre has a strong presence in the Central Region of Malawi and works closely with the Department of National Parks & Wildlife. However awareness in the North is much lower, and work still needs to be done with the local police on enforcing the law around the illegal bushmeat and pet trade. Carolien therefore had to be very careful in her negotiations and with the support of the local people she was eventually able to persuade the man to give up the orphan. This has been the second rescue at Nhkata in as many months – you may remember from previous blogs how traveller Brian was rescued orphan blue monkey Max – and we are hoping to do some outreach work there shortly.

Nhkata © LLWC

Nhkata © LLWC

On arrival back in Lilongwe, volunteer Anne-Marie took on the important job of surrogate mother to provide 24 hour care. Two weeks on and ‘Nhkata’ has grown so quickly, most noticeably with a full mouth of teeth and a prominent eyebrow! Unlike the flurry of orphaned vervets that were rescued before Christmas, she is the only orphaned baboon we have had this year and there are no young orphaned baboons to integrate her with. We will need to find a baboon surrogate mother very soon – fingers crossed we are as successful as we were with blue monkeys Max and Maggie.

Nhkata © LLWC

‘Nhkata’ is only a temporary name! If you would like to choose her name, then please email marketing@llwc.org. We ask for a £100 donation in return to help towards her feed and initial veterinary care. We will also send you a certificate and adoption pack.

Unlike the traditional manyatta, lion proof bomas have strong posts placed 3 metres apart, a 1.8 metre high triple twisted chain link fence and firm metal doors. Spiny shrubs are put on both sides of the chain link to strengthen the fence. One lion proof boma can accommodate up to 800 cows and 400 sheep or goats!

Community participation has been excellent, both women and men have actively played their roles in the construction process. Giving up their own time, they dug holes for the fence posts, ferried the spiny shrubs and helped in the general construction process. It was a sigh of relief for many villagers who had been spending sleepless nights outside their manyattas guarding their livestock from predators. This is a win-win situation as community livestock is protected and therefore the lions are safe from persecution.

The construction of lion proof bomas by Born Free is one of the actions prescribed in The 2009-2014 national conservation and management strategy for lions and hyenas in Kenya.

Manoa David

Born Free Kenya

We first noticed her missing on the 2nd December 09. We spent the following four days searching the area but found no signs of her and began to fear the worse. However, there was something in the remaining troop’s behaviour that made us believe she hadn’t been subject to a predator attack and we never gave up hope of seeing her again. Shortly after Christmas, while back in the UK, we received a message from the field team that Helena had indeed turned up safe and well and was back with Titan’s troop. Keith and I were overjoyed knowing it would only be a matter of days before we were back in the bush and able to see her again. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be; Helena disappeared again during early January, the day before we were due back at the field site!

To our amazement, approximately 10 days later we located Helena with a troop of wild baboons we had been watching. She appeared in good health and while she wasn’t fully integrated with the baboon troop they didn’t seem to mind her ‘tagging along’. This is not normal monkey behaviour – troops of baboons and vervets do mix and share space in many different types of habitat, but it is very unusual to see a lone vervet living as part of a baboon troop. Her behaviour had also completely changed. Helena has always maintained a human connection, much more so than any of the other release monkeys. She would always be the first monkey to greet the research team and would occasionally follow us back to the vehicle, but now she didn’t even show any signs of recognition. We were able to follow the baboons daily and saw Helena regularly over the following week.

Helena, just weeks before joining the baboon troop

It has now been two weeks since we last saw the baboon troop and Helena, and she has not as yet reconnected with Titan’s Troop. If nothing else, Helena has proven she is a survivor and we are fully confident that she is out there somewhere, living as a wild monkey.

Best wishes from the Malawian Bush

Andrea and Keith xx