A SAVANNA MONKEY IN THE RAINFOREST: FILLING CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE GAPS OF ONE OF AFRICA’S MOST ENIGMATIC PRIMATES, CHLOROCEBUS DRYAS

The dryas monkey Chlorocebus dryas, is one of Africa's most enigmatic primates. It was found in the buffer zone of the Lomami National Park (LNP) in 2014, approximately 400 km from its known range. This new record initiated much needed field research on the species’ distribution, habitat preference, behavior, and the validity of the conspecific Cercopithecus salongo.
In Chapter 2, we used local knowledge to select sites for a camera trap survey to determine habitat use and relative abundance and tested the hypothesis that dryas monkeys are more abundant in the protected LNP than in the buffer zone. Dryas monkeys were detected most frequently in the buffer zone and less in the park, thus we rejected our hypothesis.
In Chapter 3, we conducted a survey using a species-specific method to accumulate videos of C. dryas. We used these videos to determine if C. dryas and C. salongo are synonymous. Camera traps revealed an ontogenetic change in pelage pattern that supports the hypothesis that C. salongo is the adult of C. dryas.
In Chapter 4, we investigated new occurrences of dryas monkeys in gallery forests in the southern LNP. We tested the hypothesis that dryas monkeys prefer the forest-prairie ecotone over continuous rainforest using occupancy models. Despite considerable effort, only one adult male was detected. Estimated dryas monkey occupancy was 45-91 % in continuous forest and 0-7 % in gallery forest. We rejected our hypothesis that dryas monkeys prefer the forest-prairie ecotone over continuous rainforest.
The dryas monkey Chlorocebus dryas, is one of Africa's most enigmatic primates. It was found in the buffer zone of the Lomami National Park (LNP) in 2014, approximately 400 km from its known range. This new record initiated much needed field research on the species’ distribution, habitat preference, behavior, and the validity of the conspecific Cercopithecus salongo.
In Chapter 2, we used local knowledge to select sites for a camera trap survey to determine habitat use and relative abundance and tested the hypothesis that dryas monkeys are more abundant in the protected LNP than in the buffer zone. Dryas monkeys were detected most frequently in the buffer zone and less in the park, thus we rejected our hypothesis.
In Chapter 3, we conducted a survey using a species-specific method to accumulate videos of C. dryas. We used these videos to determine if C. dryas and C. salongo are synonymous. Camera traps revealed an ontogenetic change in pelage pattern that supports the hypothesis that C. salongo is the adult of C. dryas.
In Chapter 4, we investigated new occurrences of dryas monkeys in gallery forests in the southern LNP. We tested the hypothesis that dryas monkeys prefer the forest-prairie ecotone over continuous rainforest using occupancy models. Despite considerable effort, only one adult male was detected. Estimated dryas monkey occupancy was 45-91 % in continuous forest and 0-7 % in gallery forest. We rejected our hypothesis that dryas monkeys prefer the forest-prairie ecotone over continuous rainforest.
The dryas monkey Chlorocebus dryas, is one of Africa's most enigmatic primates. It was found in the buffer zone of the Lomami National Park (LNP) in 2014, approximately 400 km from its known range. This new record initiated much needed field research on the species’ distribution, habitat preference, behavior, and the validity of the conspecific Cercopithecus salongo.
In Chapter 2, we used local knowledge to select sites for a camera trap survey to determine habitat use and relative abundance and tested the hypothesis that dryas monkeys are more abundant in the protected LNP than in the buffer zone. Dryas monkeys were detected most frequently in the buffer zone and less in the park, thus we rejected our hypothesis.
In Chapter 3, we conducted a survey using a species-specific method to accumulate videos of C. dryas. We used these videos to determine if C. dryas and C. salongo are synonymous. Camera traps revealed an ontogenetic change in pelage pattern that supports the hypothesis that C. salongo is the adult of C. dryas.
In Chapter 4, we investigated new occurrences of dryas monkeys in gallery forests in the southern LNP. We tested the hypothesis that dryas monkeys prefer the forest-prairie ecotone over continuous rainforest using occupancy models. Despite considerable effort, only one adult male was detected. Estimated dryas monkey occupancy was 45-91 % in continuous forest and 0-7 % in gallery forest. We rejected our hypothesis that dryas monkeys prefer the forest-prairie ecotone over continuous rainforestThe dryas monkey Chlorocebus dryas, is one of Africa's most enigmatic primates. It was found in the buffer zone of the Lomami National Park (LNP) in 2014, approximately 400 km from its known range. This new record initiated much needed field research on the species’ distribution, habitat preference, behavior, and the validity of the conspecific Cercopithecus salongo.
In Chapter 2, we used local knowledge to select sites for a camera trap survey to determine habitat use and relative abundance and tested the hypothesis that dryas monkeys are more abundant in the protected LNP than in the buffer zone. Dryas monkeys were detected most frequently in the buffer zone and less in the park, thus we rejected our hypothesis.
In Chapter 3, we conducted a survey using a species-specific method to accumulate videos of C. dryas. We used these videos to determine if C. dryas and C. salongo are synonymous. Camera traps revealed an ontogenetic change in pelage pattern that supports the hypothesis that C. salongo is the adult of C. dryas.
In Chapter 4, we investigated new occurrences of dryas monkeys in gallery forests in the southern LNP. We tested the hypothesis that dryas monkeys prefer the forest-prairie ecotone over continuous rainforest using occupancy models. Despite considerable effort, only one adult male was detected. Estimated dryas monkey occupancy was 45-91 % in continuous forest and 0-7 % in gallery forest. We rejected our hypothesis that dryas monkeys prefer the forest-prairie ecotone over continuous rainforest.