Photograph by Paul Benson

LOLLDAIGA HILLS RESEARCH PROGRAMME

Tom Butynski & Yvonne de Jong

May 2016 (Issue 2)

Monthly Report

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New to lolldaiga.com

Camera trap portfolio May 2016

Additions to Paul Benson’s photographic portfolio

New homepage image

New image, by Paul Benson, welcoming viewers to the Lolldaiga website. View from Lolldaiga Hills Ranch of Mount Kenya to

the southeast.

Monitoring tool for the Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme (LHRP)

In order to monitor the larger mammal and bird species of Lolldaiga Hills Ranch, and

to keep the species distribution maps up-to–date in an efficient manner, LHRP looked

into the new ArcGIS survey tool ‘Survey123’ (beta version). During May 2016 the

monitoring iPhone app was further developed and the first test surveys successfully

completed. LHRP will start using this app in June 2016, with surveys in Lolldaiga Hills

Ranch’s North Valley.

Reintroduction of guereza colobus monkeys to central Lolldaiga Hills Ranch

The Mount Kenya guereza colobus monkey (also called ‘black-and-white colobus monkey’) Colobus guereza

kikuyuensis is present in a healthy population along part of the Timau River on the southern boundary of

Lolldaiga Hills Ranch (LHR). There is also a group of about three guereza near Three Dams (centre of LHR). A

solitary adult guereza was observed in 2015 moving on the ground across a large open area near Valley Dam in

LHR’s South Valley.

Survey form of the Lolldaiga monitoring tool Survey 123 app for iPhone.

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Until about 20 years ago, guereza were much more widespread and

common in the dry montane forest of central LHR. The dominant tree

species in this forest are cedar, olive, euclea, acokanthera, and

Dodonaea angustifolia, but Ficus spp. (particularly F. thonningii),

Schrebera alata, and others are fairly common at some sites, particularly

at the foot of kopjes and in the deeper valleys were conditions are

relatively moist. That guereza are now present in very low numbers in

central LHR is likely related to a series of fires during particularly dry

years in the 1990s. These fires damaged large area of dry forest on

LHR. These forests are, however, recovering. There are also significant

patches of forests that were not much affected by these fires.

Primatologists on the LHRP believe that these patches, and the

recovering forests around them, can now, once again, support several

groups of guereza.

The Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme (LHRP) has enquired whether

the Kenya National Primate Task Force (KNPTF) is supportive of LHR as a

reintroduction site for about 15 guereza. If approval of the relevant

Kenyan authorities is obtained, the guereza will be sourced from forest

fragments that are being cleared around the nearby Mount Kenya

and/or Aberdares Range. These guereza are in a situation where they

will perish if not translocated. All, or many of, the protocols used by the

translocation team at the Institute of Primate Research (IPR) will be

applied during this reintroduction.

If this proposed reintroduction goes ahead, the guereza will probably be

released in the vicinity of the 'Farm House'. Here there is considerable

good quality dry forest where a ‘soft-release’ cage would be

constructed. Here, care and monitoring of guereza in the cage, and post-

release, would be logistically relatively easy and inexpensive. The

proposed site is central to some of the best dry forests on LHR. As such,

it is expected that guereza would disperse readily from this site to other

forests on LHR. If this reintroduction is successful, guereza in this newly established population should, with

time, connect with present populations at the Timau River and at Three Dams.

It is proposed that this reintroduction be a joint effort of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), IPR, LHRP, and KNPTF (of

which LHRP is a member). IPR and KWS have built considerable expertise in translocating guereza in Kenya over

the past 1.5 years, with the successfully reintroduction of 135 individuals to Karura Forest Reserve, Nairobi (visit:

http://www.friendsofkarura.org/). LHRP will present more details of this proposed reintroduction to the KNPTP

during its next meeting on 30 June.

Mount Kenya guereza Colobus guereza kikuyuensis at Naro Moro, central Kenya. Photograph by Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski.

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Meetings and Visits

Planned

Aerial Survey Working Group Workshop (7 June, Nanyuki) – Laikipia Wildlife Forum (LWF). Presentations on the

April 2016 systematic aerial sample survey of Laikipia County. About 25 people from the Laikipia conservation

community are expected to attend.

Project to End Great Ape Slavery (PEGAS) (10 June, Nanyuki) – Project Management Committee meeting.

Comprised of representatives from PEGAS, Ol Pejeta, Lolldaiga Hills Ranch, and Jane Goodall Institute.

Laikipia Elephant Conservation and Management Meeting (20 June, Nanyuki) – Juliet King (NRT), Ian Craig

(NRT), Kimani Kuria (Ol Jogi), Chris Burt (Ole Naishu), Jamie Gaimer (Ol Jogi), Mike Robert (LHR), Tom Butynski

(LHR), Yvonne de Jong (LHR), and others.

Marwell Wildlife (Marwell Zoo, Winchester, UK) (24–26 June, LHR) – Dr. Zeke Davidson, Marwell Wildlife Kenya

Programme Manager, will visit Lolldaiga Hills Ranch to discuss (1) collaboration with Marwell Wildlife’s camera

trapping project in northern Kenya (particularly the viewing of images of desert warthogs, primates, jackals, and

dik-diks), and possible partnership with Lolldaiga Hills Ranch as concerns the conservation of Grevy’s zebra,

Lewel hartebeest, and guereza colobus money.

Africa Butterfly Research Centre, Nairobi (24–26 June, LHR) – Mr. Steve Collins, Director, African Butterfly

Research Centre, and two moth specialists from South Africa, will visit LHR to work with Mike Roberts on

advancing the butterflies and moths species list.

Kenya National Primate Task Force meeting (30 June, KWS Headquarters, Nairobi) – Representative from

Institute of Primate Research, Kenya Wildlife Service, and the Kenya primate conservation and research

community.

German Diplomats to Lolldaiga Farm House (7–9 July, LHR) – Dr. Johannes Refisch (Project Manager, UNEP’s

Great Apes Survival Partnership) has organized about 10 Germans who work with the United Nations, German

Embassy, and GTZ in Nairobi, for a visit to Lolldaiga Hills Ranch. During this visit they will meet with LHR staff to

learn more about management and conservation activities on the Ranch.

African Queen Butterfly Meeting (15–18 September, LHR) – Dr. Ian Gordon (BirdLife consultant and

evolutionary biologist) has organized a meeting at the Lolldaiga Farm House to discuss future research related to

the evolution of mimicry in the African queen butterfly.

IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group’s African Primate Red List Assessment Workshop, Rome

The degree of threat of all of Africa’s 188 primate taxa was assessed during a 6-day workshop at Sapienza

University, Rome, Italy, in April 2016. The Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme is the lead assessor on 43 of these

taxa, including all species present on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch. All 13 species-level assessments lead by LHRP are

now with the Red List people at IUCN/SSC for review prior to going to press. The LHRP expects to complete the

30 primate subspecies assessments within the next 2 months.

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In summary, Kenya supports a total of 12 genera, 19 species, and 24 subspecies of primate. Of these, three

species (16%) and five subspecies (21%) were assessed as ‘Threatened’ during the April 2016 IUCN/SSC Primate

Specialist Group’s African Primate Red List Assessment Workshop. In 2008, one species (5%) and three

subspecies (13%) were threatened. Of the eight currently threatened taxa in Kenya, two species and two

subspecies are ‘Critically Endangered’.

The appendix of this monthly report presents the summary of the findings of this workshop. This summary has

been sent to the Kenya National Primate Task Force.

Pyjama lily Crinum macowanii on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch. Photograph by Paul Benson.

Publications and Reports

Published articles and completed reports

De Jong, Y. A. & Butynski, T. M. 2016. Primate diversity and conservation in Kenya: Summary of the IUCN/SSC African Primate Red List Assessment Workshop in Rome (April 2016). Unpublished report of the Sustainability Centre Eastern African and Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program. <www.lolldaiga.com>

Urs, K., Roos, C., Kopp, G. H., Butynski, T. M., Knauf, S., Zinner, D. & Fischer, J. 2016. Insights into the genetic foundation of aggression in Papio and the evolution of two length-polymorphisms in the promoter regions of serotonin-related genes (5-HTTLPR and MAOALPR) in Papionini. BMC Evolutionary Biology 16:121. DOI 10.1186/s12862-016-0693-1

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In press

Butynski, T. M. & De Jong, Y. A. Primates of Africa’s coastal deltas and their conservation. In Primates in Flooded Habitats: Ecology and Conservation. Barnett, A. A., Matsuda, I. & Nowak, K., eds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

Butynski, T. M., Parker, I. & De Jong, Y. A. Historic distribution, abundance, and habitats of Roosevelt’s sable antelope Hippotragus niger roosevelti (Heller, 1910) (Cerartiodactyla: Bovidae) in Kenya. Journal of East African Natural History 104.

De Jong, Y. A., Butynski, T. M. & d’Huart, J. P. IUCN/SSC Red List assessment for the desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.

De Jong, Y. A., Cumming, D. H. M., d’Huart, J. P. & Butynski, T. M. IUCN/SSC Red List assessment for the common warthog Phacochoerus africanus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.

Zinner, D., Keller, C., Nyahongo, J. W., Butynski, T. M., De Jong, Y. A., Pozzi, L., Knauf, S., Liedigk, R. & Roos, C. Distribution of mitochondrial clades and morphotypes of baboons Papio spp. (Primates: Cercopithecidae) in eastern Africa. Journal of East African Natural History 104.

Submitted

De Jong, Y. A. & Butynski, T. M. Desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus. In Melletti, M. & Meijaard, E., eds. Ecology, Evolution and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries. Implications for Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

De Jong, Y. A. & Butynski, T. M. IUCN/SSC Red List assessments for 13 African primate species.

In preparation

Butynski, T. M. & De Jong, Y. A. Common warthog Phacochoerus africanus. In Melletti, M. & Meijaard, E., eds. Ecology, Evolution and Management of Wild Pigs and Peccaries. Implications for Conservation.

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Butynski, T. M. & De Jong, Y. A. South Western Mau Forest Reserve game proof barrier feasibility study.

Unpublished report to IDH/ISLA and Rhino Ark.

Butynski, T. M. & De Jong, Y. A. Taxonomic status of the Mount Kilimanjaro guereza colobus.

De Jong, Y. A. & Butynski, T. M. A new subspecies of gentle monkey Cercopithecus mitis (Primates: Cercopithecinae) from northern Tanzania.

De Jong, Y. A. & Butynski, T. M. IUCN/SSC Red List assessments for 30 African primate subspecies.

De Jong, Y. A., d’Huart, J. P. & Butynski, T. M. Biogeography of the desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus (Pallas, 1766) and common warthog Phacochoerus africanus (Gmelin, 1788) in the Horn of Africa.

Black-backed jackal Canis

Mesomelas at Lolldaiga Hills Ranch.

Photograph by Yvonne de Jong

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Rainfall on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch

Species totals as of end of May 2016

Mammals on the Lolldaiga Hills Conservation Landscape…………………………..105 species

Birds on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch…………………………………………………………………….370 species

Birds on the proposed IBA/KBA………………………………………………………………….525 species

Reptiles on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch……………………………………………..……………….…32 species

Amphibians on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch...............................................................12 species

Butterflies on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch……………… ……………………………………………123 species

Moths on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch......................................................................200 species

Except for moths, species list for the above taxonomic groups can be viewed at www.lolldaiga.com

Best Zoological Society of London/Lolldaiga Hills Ranch camera trap images on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch (May

2016).

15 140.4

131157

0

50

100

150

200

Monthly rainfall (mm) on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch

during 2016 (mean of four sites)

260

117

206

43

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

South West Centre North

Rainfall (mm) at four sites on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch

May 2016

Rainfall data kindly provided

by Peter Karani.

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Common duiker Sylvicapra grimmia (left) and steenbok

Raphicerus campestris (right)

Common warthog Phacochoerus africanus

Common warthog Phacochoerus africanus

Common warthog Phacochoerus africanus

Common duiker Sylvicapra grimmia

Savanna elephant Loxodonta africana

Leopard Panthera pardus

Savanna elephant Loxodonta africana

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Appendix May 2016

PRIMATE DIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION IN KENYA: SUMMARY

OF THE IUCN/SSC AFRICAN PRIMATE RED LIST ASSESSMENT

WORKSHOP IN ROME (APRIL 2016)

Yvonne de Jong and Tom Butynski

Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme / Sustainability Centre Eastern Africa / East African Primate Diversity and

Conservation Program

Twelve genera, 19 species, and 24 subspecies of primate occur in Kenya. Three species (16%) and five subspecies

(21%) were assessed as ‘Threatened’ during the April 2016 IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group’s African Primate

Red List Assessment Workshop in Rome. Of these, two species and two subspecies are ‘Critically Endangered’. In

2008 one species (5%) and three subspecies (13%) were considered threatened.

Four changes have been made to the Kenya primate list since the last list was published (De Jong and Butynski

2012):

1. Manda vervet monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus excubitor is no longer considered to be a valid

subspecies. Now a synonym of Hilgert’s vervet monkey C. p. hilgertii (T. Butynski and Y. de Jong pers.

comm.).

2. Tana River red colobus has been elevated from a subspecies (Piliocolobus rufomitratus rufomitratus) to a

species (P. rufomitratus). The subgenus Piliocolobus has been elevated to a genus.

3. Mount Kilimanjaro guereza Colobus guereza caudatus has been added (Butynski and De Jong 2015).

4. Eastern potto has been elevated from a subspecies (Perodicticus potto ibeanus) to a species (P. ibeanus)

based on new morphological and molecular information (Stump 2005; Oates 2011; Nekaris 2013). The

Mt. Kenya potto is now taken as a subspecies of eastern potto (P. i. stockleyi Butynski & De Jong, 2007)

rather than of central potto Perodicticus edwardsi.

Table. Primate taxa of Kenya and their IUCN/SSC Red List status in 2008 and 2016.

Genus/Species Subspecies Status 2008

Status 2016

IUCN Criteria

Genus Otolemur

Small-eared greater galago Otolemur garnettii

LC LC

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White-tailed small- eared galago Otolemur garnettii lasiotis

LC LC

Kikuyu small-eared galago Otolemur garnettii kikuyuensis

LC LC

Pangani small-eared galago Otolemur garnettii panganiensis

LC LC

Large-eared greater galago Otolemur crassicaudatus

LC LC

Northern silver galago Otolemur crassicaudatus argentatus

NE LC

Miombo silver galago Otolemur crassicaudatus monteiri

LC LC

Genus Galago

Northern lesser galago Galago senegalensis

LC LC

Kenya lesser galago Galago senegalensis braccatus

LC LC

Uganda lesser galago Galago senegalensis sotikae

LC LC

Senegal lesser galago Galago senegalensis senegalensis

LC LC

Somali lesser galago Galago gallarum

LC LC

Genus Galagoides

Kenya coast galago Galagoides cocos

LC LC

Genus Perodicticus

Potto Perodicticus ibeanus*

LC

Eastern potto Perodicticus ibeanus ibeanus

LC LC

Mount Kenya potto Perodicticus ibeanus stockleyi

DD CR D – possibly extinct

Genus Cercopithecus

Gentle monkey LC LC

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Cercopithecus mitis

Stuhlmann’s blue monkey Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni

LC LC

Zanzibar Sykes’s monkey Cercopithecus mitis albogularis

LC LC

Pousargues’s monkey Cercopithecus mitis albotorquatus

VU LC

Kolb’s monkey Cercopithecus mitis kolbi

LC LC

Red-tailed monkey Cercopithecus ascanius

LC LC

Schmidt’s red-tailed monkey Cercopithecus ascanius schmidti

LC LC

De Brazza’s monkey Cercopithecus neglectus

LC LC

Genus Erythrocebus

Patas monkey Erythrocebus patas

LC NT A4cd

Eastern patas monkey Erythrocebus patas pyrrhonotus

NE

VU A4acde

Genus Chlorocebus

Vervet monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus

LC LC

Hilgert’s vervet Chlorocebus pygerythrus hilgerti

LC LC

Tantalus monkey Chlorocebus tantalus

Budgett’s tantalus Chlorocebus tantalus budgetti

LC LC

Genus Papio

Olive baboon Papio anubis

LC LC

Yellow baboon Papio cynocephalus

LC LC

Ibean yellow baboon Papio cynocephalus ibeanus

LC LC

Genus Cercocebus

Tana River mangabey EN CR A3cd

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Cercocebus galeritus

Genus Colobus

Angola colobus Colobus angolensis

LC VU A2d; A4d

Peters’ Angola colobus Colobus angolensis palliatus

LC VU A2c; A3c; A4c

Guereza Colobus guereza

LC LC

Mount Uarges guereza Colobus guereza percivali

EN CR B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)

Mount Kenya guereza Colobus guereza kikuyuensis

LC LC

Mau Forest guereza Colobus guereza matschiei

DD LC

Mount Kilimanjaro guereza Colobus guereza caudatus***

LC VU B1;B2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)

Genus Piliocolobus

Tana River red colobus Piliocolobus rufomitratus ****

EN CR B2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)

Genus Homo

Humans Homo sapiens

LC LC

12 Genera, 19 species

24 subspecies

CR: Critically Endangered; EN: Endangered; DD: Data Deficient; LC: Least Concern; NE: Not Evaluated; NT: Near Threatened; V: Vulnerable.

Taxonomic notes

* Treated by Groves (2001), Grubb et al. (2003), Butynski and De Jong (2007), and Pimley and Bearder (2013) as

a subspecies of Perodicticus potto and assessed in 2008 as P. p. ibeanus. Treated here as a species based on new

morphological and molecular information (Stump 2005; Oates 2011; Nekaris 2013).

** Grubb et al. (2003) treat the vervet monkey as a subspecies of Cercopithecus aethiops. Here the vervet is a species following Hill (1966), Dandelot (1974), Kingdon (1997, 2015), Groves (2001, 2005), Groves and Kingdon (2013), Isbell and Enstam-Jaffe (2013), and Wallis (2013), and placed it in the genus Chlorocebus, following Groves (2001, 2005), Groves and Kingdon (2013), Isbell and Enstram-Jaffe (2013), and Kingdon (2015). This assessment considers the Manda vervet monkey Chlorocebus pygerythrus excubitor to be a synonym of C. p. hilgerti as the distinctiveness of this taxon is poorly supported.

*** Following Butynski and De Jong 2015. Summary: The Mount Kilimanjaro guereza Colobus guereza caudatus is considered to be endemic to northeast Tanzania. This paper presents the first records for C. g. caudatus in

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Kenya, describes the distribution of this subspecies, and assesses its conservation status. In September 2014, we found C. g. caudatus in southeast Kenya in Kitobo Forest Reserve (1.6 km²) and Loitokitok Forest Reserve (4.2 km²). This subspecies has an altitudinal range of c. 660–3,050 m asl and an ‘Extent of Occurrence’ of c. 4,040 km². These findings are important as they: (1) add one subspecies of primate to Kenya’s primate list; (2) remove one endemic subspecies of primate from Tanzania’s primate list; (3) establish C. g. caudatus as the most threatened primate subspecies in Kenya; (4) change the priorities for actions necessary to maintain Kenya’s primate diversity; and (5) indicate that detailed biodiversity surveys within Kitobo Forest and Loitokitok Forest are likely to yield new data crucial to the conservation of biodiversity in southeast Kenya.

**** Modern taxonomic arrangements of the colobus monkeys either place the red colobuses and the olive colobus in separate genera, Piliocolobus and Procolobus, respectively (e.g., Groves 2001, 2005, 2007; Kingdon 2015), or consider them to belong to one genus, Procolobus, with two subgenera (Procolobus for the olive colobus and Piliocolobus for the red colobuses) (Grubb et al. 2003 [followed in the 2008 IUCN Red List], Grubb et al. 2013). The two genera arrangement is applied here. This taxon was formerly the nominate subspecies of P. rufomitratus for subspecies semlikiensis, foai, langi, oustaleti, parmentieri, tephrosceles, and tholloni (subspecies ellioti and lulindicus are no longer recognized). All of these taxa are now treated as species following Groves (2001, 2007).