“VERVET monkeys are creatures that we certainly love to hate and as a result its a topic that I am rather reluctant to write about. Whether you love or hate them, a lot of their behavioral problems are a direct result of humans. We destroy their homes to make our own, then we get upset when they raid our kitchen or upturn our trash can,” said Warren Dick.
Vervet monkeys share many human like qualities with us including hypertension, anxiety and even social or dependent alcohol use. They are very social animals, living in groups ranging from 10 to 70 individuals and they have different hierarchies between males and females.
Males usually move off to neighboring groups once they reach sexual maturity. They also have quite an extensive vocabulary, including differing calls for different types of predators. Babies pick up their vocabulary as they grow and start to learn what different calls mean.
ALSO READ: Understanding the behaviour of vervet monkeys
Like humans, individuals can recognise each other just from the sound of their voice. Mothers know their babies voice and will respond quicker to alarm calls from her own child rather than another.
Within a few days of a new baby being born, each member of the troop has at least one chance to see, smell and even touch the new baby.
In well established groups, mothers often leave their babies in the care of immature females (teenagers) within the troop. It not only gives the mother a break, but it also gives younger females the opportunity to learn about baby care before having one of their own.
Troops that have this kind of mothering technique, often have a much better survival rate than those that don’t.
“As much as I love wildlife and monkeys, I never encourage the feeding of any wildlife. While one person is seemingly being ‘kind’ to an animal, the same animal is seen as vermin by another heartless person and at the end of the day, the poor monkey suffers. Feeding monkeys habituates them to humans, giving them a sense of entitlement and making conflict inevitable. While it seems innocent to give a monkey food from your hand, the same monkey may go to another human expecting the same treatment, but if food doesn’t come the monkey may get persistent or even aggressive, giving the person reason to act out against the animal.”
According to Warren, an unfortunate fact is that almost every monkey living in residential areas has at least two or three led pellets in their body from a pellet gun.
It is in fact a criminal offence to fire a pellet gun at any animal and if caught you can face a hefty fine or jail time. If you see anyone willfully harming monkeys or any wildlife, report them to the local SPCA.
ALSO READ: Monkeys – to feed or not to feed?
“An idea that I heard of, instead of feeding by hand, or putting the food in your garden, rather take the food to a nearby park and leave it there for the monkeys to find in their normal routine of foraging for food. This way humans are not associated with the food given.”
Contact Warren to have some of your interesting spiders, snakes or other wildlife identified. Call or WhatsApp him on 072 211 0353. Follow the conversation on Facebook, Warren’s Small World.
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