TRANSLOCATION AND INTRODUCTION OF THE ZANZIBAR RED COLOBUS MONKEY - SUCCESS AND FAILURE WITH AN ENDANGERED ISLAND ENDEMIC

The Zanzibar red colobus Procolobus kirkii is one of Africa's most end angered primates, with only c. 1500-2000 individuals remaining in the wild. The authors made preliminary surveys of three areas where this m onkey was translocated or introduced in the 1970s and 1980s. It appear s that only one of these releases was successful. A total of 67 animal s were caught and translocated or introduced (including four that died during the process). Thirteen to 20 years later, 62-70 red colobus we re located at the three sites; i.e. there had been Mo Met gain in colo bus numbers as a result of the translocations and introduction. One at tempt apparently failed because of insufficient habitat, and another p erhaps because of insufficient numbers of colobus or an imbalance in t he age and sex composition of animals released. The one successful tra nslocation involved moving a fairly large number of monkeys (36) into a forest with a relatively high diversity of tree species. In light of these findings, the authors recommend that far more attention be give n to protecting the monkeys and their habitat where they currently exi st, rather than spend time and money on translocations that are as lik ely to fail as to succeed.