Born Free

Category: Born Free, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Sep 16 2009 | By: bornfree

It’s been a long time since we last updated you on the progress of the troop of baboons released last December. This has partly been because of personnel changes at the project, but also because the team have been enduring a tough time of late, and all available time has had to go into intense monitoring efforts.

Sadly, since the last blog from the release team, at which point the troop were adapting well to their new life in the wild, we have lost several individuals from Jack’s troop. Chris and Najinga were found dead just near their sleeping sites, presumed to have been killed by leopard. In addition, three other individuals (Nina, Ali & Bob John) have also disappeared from Jack’s troop, and have not been sighted among Zenus’ troop, the wild baboon troop in the area. Jack, Brenda, Becky and Ruth have not been seen since May 11th, leaving their whereabouts a mystery, though it is hoped they have simply moved to another area of the park, beyond the range of the monitoring team’s equipment.

Following such disruption to Jack’s troop, only Mandy could be found with Eddie, who had sustained a very deep flesh wound on his back right leg. After consultation with the Wildlife Centre’s vet it was decided that Eddie would have great difficulty surviving in the wild if his wound were left unattended. On June 6th both Eddie and Mandy were removed from the field and brought back to the Wildlife Centre where they are currently residing. Eddie’s wound needed proper treatment in a closed environment and Mandy was extremely vulnerable on her own without any troop members for protection.

The research team’s efforts to relocate the missing members of Jack’s troop continue.

On a more positive note, the Centre began its second release of rescued and rehabilitated monkeys. In late May, Titan’s troop of fifteen vervet monkeys was released into Kasungu National Park, 13km from the baboon release site. Some monkeys raced for the door, springing out of the cages as soon as the gate was lifted. Others were a bit shy, taking their time to venture out into the great expanse of the wild. Within half an hour of the release all monkeys were exploring their new surroundings, ecstatic to be free!

One of the troop’s adult males, named Jimmy, decided to join a wild baboon troop just two days after the release. Jimmy was the alpha male (leader) of the troop until three months before the release, when another male, Titan, took over the leadership position. Understandably, Jimmy has been having a difficult time relating to his group members… let’s face it, it’s embarrassing to be overthrown and lose all your power… how will the ladies ever respect him now? I suspect Jimmy became a little confused about what species he was on release and approached the baboon troop out of desperation to join another troop. Two weeks later though, he was back with his own kind, no doubt still resentful of Titan.

One of the troop’s adult females, Hellena, went off with a wild troop of vervets in the third week of the release. Just six days later, she was back under Titan’s command – presumably missing all the delicious food we were providing for Titan’s troop. During the first eight weeks of each release we provide the monkeys with supplementary food to help ease their transition into their new environment, allowing them time to learn how to cope with finding all of their own food.

Tragically, Michael, one of the sub-adult males in Titan’s troop was found dead a few weeks after release. He was killed by a predator in the park, likely believed to have been a jackal. Michael was the most curious monkey in the group - one of the favourites of the research team. His playful manner and sweet face made it impossible not to love him. Since his death, his best friend, Moses, has been a bit lost without him. Moses can now frequently be found sitting somewhere near the vehicle or research team, intently watching the humans, as if he’s expecting us to tell him how to continue on.

This event is deeply discouraging for everyone here in the field, especially on the tails of the results from the release of Jack’s troop. The research team and Wildlife Centre staff are currently doing all they can to assess what factors are contributing to the deaths, reworking our release protocol so we all can see increases in survival rates. It is expected that a few individuals will die with every release; however, this does not make it any easier to cope with when we find one of our beloved monkeys dead. We will remember Michael fondly.

All other members of the troop are doing well, and continue to enjoy their new found freedom.

Tags: Lilongwe, Malawi, monkey, release, vervet, Wildlife

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Category: Sea Sense | Date: Sep 17 2008 | By: bornfree

Last week we went to Saadani National Park, the only protected area in Tanzania which includes terrestrial and marine wildlife – where bush meets the beach! Our aim was to check the status of conservation activities as well as tourism issues. This area is situated north of Dar es Salaam and is sandwiched between the two historical towns of Bagamoyo and Pangani. The area has lots of wildlife including elephant, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and lion. It is also an important area for nesting green turtles. This year, we have recorded 16 nests on Madete beach, which is protected within the park boundaries. 

During our trip, we visited Maziwe Island to check for turtle nests. This island was once vegetated and there were records of olive ridleys nesting. However, the island is now completely inundated during spring tides and many nests are washed away, due to removal of the vegetation.  While there, we saw the tracks of a large green turtle. However, we didn’t manage to find her eggs. We will now be monitoring the island every neap tide. If we find eggs, they will be moved to the mainland beach for protection.

We also received reports from local fishermen that 3 green turtles and 1 leatherback turtle were found washed up on the beach with injuries to their heads, presumably having been hit by local fishers as they struggled to recover their nets.

Tags: Saadani National Park, Sea Sense, Tanzania, tourism, turtles, Wildlife

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Category: Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Sep 03 2008 | By: bornfree

Hi this is Tracey again, Marketing Manager for the Wildlife Centre. I have a great story for you this week.

In February this year after a heavy rain storm, I found this tiny spiky ball curled up in my garage. It turned out to be a baby hedgehog, a very young one. I took it down to the Wildlife Centre where the vet looked it over. It was in good shape, if a little cold and very hungry. As it was so small they recommended I take it home and keep it warm. There followed several weeks of hot water bottle changing and LOTS of feeding. For a small creature she sure ate a lot! My gardener even got involved by helping to catch grasshoppers and crickets and other insects to supplement Kissy’s diet. We named her Kissy which is short for ‘kisoni’, the Chichewe word for hedgehog. For several weeks she lived in my laundry room and the vet from the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre paid her regular visits to check up on her.

Eventually, about 6 weeks ago, we decided Kissy was big and strong enough to be released. As I had found her in my garden this is where we released her. She still came back every night for her dinner though!! Then this week she introduced me to her new family, she has had 3 little babies!! They are roughly the same size now as Kissy was when I first found her that wet afternoon in my garage.

So you see it’s not just the large wild animals that the Wildlife Centre helps but the small ones that most people never see – who would have thought that we get hedgehogs in Africa?!?! Without their help and advice I don’t think this story would have had such a wonderful ending.

Please help us to continue helping the wildlife of Malawi. Every donation helps an animal. Just £10 helps us feed a baboon or vervet for a week, or provide medical care and food for a hungry hedgehog!!

Thank you!!

Tags: hedgehog, Lilongwe, Malawi, Wildlife

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