Wildlife/Human Conflict Solutions: The Life of Bipod

November 02, 2018

The Life of Bipod - Vervet Monkey Missing Two Limbs

vervet monkey, darwin primate group, samango monkey, primates, sykes monkey, blue monkey,

Bipod - Female Vervet Missing an Arm and a Leg

Bipod, a female vervet monkey, missing one arm and one leg manages to keep up with her troop. Our trail cameras have captured a number of videos of her interacting with members from her group and the samango monkeys that share their territory. The following trail camera footage documents some of Bipod's adventures.

Bipod also stars in the video below which shows the relationship between a vervet troop (Bipod's group) and a samango monkey troop.

Why do we see so many vervet monkeys and baboons that are missing one or two limbs?

The next time someone says: "there are too many monkeys because their predators have been eradicated", ask yourself if that is really true.

Are there really"too many monkeys"? The health of a troop is best evaluated by the age/sex ratio as opposed to the number of individuals in it.

Are there many infants and babies giving the impression that the troop is "too big" (a large percentage of the babies don't make it to adulthood).

To what extent is the impression of "too many monkeys" a human-centric one that denies our encroachment and destruction of their habitat?

Monkeys that share human spaces (hostile land) are shot at, poisoned, killed by dogs, electrocuted, run over by cars and captured for muti. This explains the presence of numerous monkeys and baboons in South Africa, living with one or two limbs, that bravely survive, albeit with much difficulty.

Below: Mr No Hands, the magnificent alpha male of the Darwin Primate Group's free roaming rescued vervet troop.

no hands, injured vervet monkey, darwin primate group, samango monkey, sykes monkey,

Related Blogs:

Monkeys Being Electrocuted Along the Garden Route https://darwinprimategroup.blogspot.com/2008/06/monkeys-being-electrocuted-along-garden.html

Misconceptions - The Biggest Threat
https://darwinprimategroup.blogspot.com/2009/08/misconceptions-threat-to-our-primates.html

Samango Monkey missing arms after being electrocuted at the Vervet Monkey Foundation. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6424801/Primate-arms-amputated-electrocuted-faulty-power-line.html

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Chacma baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) and vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus)...

...are two of five species of indigenous primates in South Africa. Although an important part of our natural heritage, they are severely persecuted. Being hunted as pests by farmers, their habitats are shrinking due to the constant expansion of human settlements and the danger of busy traffic on roads, which cross the land on which they lived a long time before us.

Babies of killed mothers are often taken as pets, which is not a sustainable solution as they generally start to bite when they grow up - this is part of a monkey's language but is far magnified by the trauma of being controlled in a captive situation. Wild vervet monkeys do NOT bite humans, yet the vervet monkey has been tainted with a reputation as a biter because when kept and confined as a pet, and when humanised this way, they start to bite to protest that fact that their lives are being controlled or to jostle for a place in the hierarchy.

It is impossible for a human to meet the social needs of a monkey; pets invariably end up with mental trauma and behavioural problems. And the people who have taken them in as pets unfortunately discover that their "love" for their pet has ensured the monkey a miserable life.

Loving these animals involves giving them what is best for them above serving our own needs. The vervet monkey is a highly social animal needing a full social life among their own kind and a protective environment in a wild area, as free from human interference, as possible.

Here we are offering solutions to help primates and people as well:

1) Short term ones: Rehabilitation center, which at the moment cares for orphaned and injured monkeys. Future plans are to return them back to their place in nature…and…

2) Long term ones: to break down the many misunderstandings that have been passed down through the centuries about these primates so that people can gain an understanding that they are not our enemies, and that if we know them, we don't need to be afraid of them. And to understand that with some tolerance and patience, it is quite possible to learn to live in harmony. By communication with the authorities, we hope to work towards changing protective legislation which is insufficient at the moment.