Red Colobus from Zanzibar
The Zanzibar Red Colobus (Piliocolobus kirkii) is a Red Colobus monkey species native to Unguja, the main island in Tanzania's Zanzibar archipelago. The Zanzibar red colobus monkey is recognized as its own species, allegedly being Zanzibari-endemic. The Zanzibar Red Colobus lives in the forests. The monkey, one of Africa's rarest primates found only on the main island of Zanzibar, saw its population decline to less than 2,000 individuals in the 1990s.
It is now classified as critically endangered and was designated as a conservation priority species in Unguja in the mid-1990s. The species has been reclassified twice. placed in the genus Colobus, then in the genus Procolobus, and finally in the genus Piliocolobus. The Zanzibar Red colobus, Piliocolobus kirkii, population of Unguja represents the red colobus population thought to have been isolated to the island as sea levels rose towards the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.
A WCS research team recently completed the first-ever large-scale population census of the critically endangered Zanzibar red colobus (Piliocolobus kirkii, found only in the Zanzibar Archipelago off the east African coast). The red colobus monkey of Zanzibar (Piliocolobus kirkii. The survey was carried out on the island of Unguja (1,529km2), which is part of the Zanzibar Archipelago. The survey was carried out on the island of Unguja (1,529km2). The survey was carried out. on the Unguja island (1,529km2). The survey was conducted within and beyond protected areas on Zanzibar's main island, Unguja, where the team of WCS scientists used a novel sweep census method to collect data on group size and structure, demography, and location using GPS devices.
The densities estimated here will serve as the foundation for future, more comprehensive island-wide surveys of Red Colobus Monkeys and Sykess Monkeys in Zanzibar. Sympatric Sikess monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis albogularis) were also counted to compare habitat-use patterns of the two genera on Zanzibar and to better understand responses to habitat degradation by associated species and subspecies on mainland (e.g., red colobus from Udzungwa, Procolobus gordonorum; Struhsaker et al (Cercopithecus mitis albogularis) were also counted in order to compare the habitat-use patterns of these two genera on Zanzibar and to understand how related species and subspecies on the mainland (e.g., Udzungwa red colobus, Procolobus gordonorum; Struhsaker et al. These sites were chosen for cross-sectional surveys after visits to other parts of Zanzibar prior to establishing the study area and consultations with the appropriate authorities; Struhsaker).
After JCBNP, both sites had the second (Uzi/Vundwe) and third (Kiwengwa-Pongwe) largest populations of red colobus (these locations were chosen for transect surveys after visits to other parts of the Zanzibar archipelago prior to establishing the study areas, as well as consultations with relevant authorities ; Struhsaker ). The habitat use patterns of Colobus monkeys and Sikess macaques Higher-coral-rag forests appear to be preferential, whereas on Vundwe island, habitat use was more proportional to available racial structure, though medium-coral-rag forests were indicated. On Uzi Island, damage to coral-rag forests pushed the Tred colobus population into mangrove forest refugia. The zanzibar red colobus is an important leaf-eater and fugivore in the coral-rag forest ecosystem, and it is possible that it, like other colobines, aids in seed dispersal (although there has been no formal research into the topic).
Ecosystem Functions The Zanzibar red colobus is one of five primates found on Uzi Island, along with the lesser bushbaby (Galago senegalensis zanzibaricus), greater bushbaby (Otolemur garnetti garnetti), vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiop nesiote), and pakenham monkey (Cercopithecus nesiote 1984). Ecosystem Functions Lesser bushbabies (Galago senegalensis zanzibaricus), greater bushbabies (Otolemur garnetti garnetti), vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops nesiotes), and Sykes monkeys (Cercopithecus albogularis) are among the five primate species found on Uzi Island (Pakenham 1984 ). The red colobus populations that live in the Mangrove forests on Uzi and Vundwe islands, as well as the Xericopus gibralis) feed more frequently than others. The red gummoses and red gummoses) are the smallest on the island. It has thus been proposed that Sikes monkeys are associated with Zanzibar red colobuses in Shamba farmland areas, as larger, louder groups of red colobuses act as distractions from human detection (Siex and Struhsaker 1999a; Struhsaker 2010). Piliocolobus monkeys can be found all over the world equatorial Africa in fragmented ways, from the Gambia to Uzi island (Struhsaker 2010 ).
Due to the scarcity of large birds of prey at Uzi, such calls are rarely heard. Male calls sound more like altos or sopranos than the lower-pitched low-pitches heard in the Black-and-White Colobus species.
The coat of this Old World monkey ranges from crimson-red to black, with accents along the shoulders and arms and pale below. The name Colobus comes from the word mutilated or docked, which refers to the lack of a thumb on a monkey's hand, a trait shared by all Colobus monkey species. P. kirkii has smaller braincases than Mainland colobus monkeys, which is consistent with fostering rules also see The Island Rule states that an initial (large) animal shrinks over time as resources become scarce.
The preservation of the red colobus would have been an appropriate tribute to the archipelago of Zanzibar as well as the efforts of botanists. In fact, a 2012 article in Conservation Letters identified red colobus monkeys as the Cinderella species: one that is currently underappreciated but has aesthetic value and can contribute to the conservation of the forests where they live, benefiting a variety of other species.
We investigated the social structure and population dynamics of Zanzibar's red colobus monkeys (Procolobus kirkii) in terms of density, diversity, and distribution of food resources within the landmass of dry-land forests and agriculture, which we defined by density, diversity, basal area, and population size. Distribution of red colobus food species Between 1977 and 1981, an island-wide survey on the prevalence/absence of colobuses discovered groups of colobuses living in 13 uncontiguous forest patches, estimating a Zanzibar-wide population of 1,700 individuals for this species (Silkiluwasha 1981).