then heard the calls of Putty-nosed guenons and mona monkeys. Soon after, a Red-capped mangabey was seen and just after they had an excellent view of a large group of Monas. The high-light of the trip how-ever, was when Osam and Sylvain both witnessed two different large red monkeys and head a strange call which sounded like a mona monkey loud calling under-water! We will definitely need more sightings and further evidence to be sure but preliminary identifica-tion suggests they may have seen a crowned guenon and…. a Preuss’s Red Colobus! Don't forget to check out the February edition of CERCONEWS when full results of the surveys will be revealed.

On the 11th of October, Sylvain, our Mona Research Coordinator, and Osam, one of our patrolmen headed out from camp to undertake a preliminary survey of the Rhoko Research Area and commu-nity forest, contiguous to the Cross River National Park. This survey and further surveys in December and January aimed at confirming the presence of Preuss’s Red Colobus in the Research area were funded by a grant from the I nternational Primatological Society. The purpose of this initial 3 day trip was to locate and map existing trails and rivers, and to gather information about human disturbance and wildlife in preparation for a future study.

The trip was programmed to last 3 days, but actually took 4. and turned into a real adven-

ture. Elephant trails con-fused our explorers, flooded rivers prevented them from returning to camp, they had encounters with dangerous snakes and had to spend the night sleeping on the ground near the Rhoko river when flood-ing prevented them from returning home. Despite all of the many trials and challenges the trip definitely proved worthwhile. Sylvain and Osam encountered a mixed group of many different monkey species, all spread across a 100m area. They first met Red-eared monkeys

Forest adventurers encounter mysterious Red primate

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Forest adventurers en-counter mysteri-ous Red primate

1

From the Director

2

Mottie’s passport to freedom

2

New addition to family

2

Leo; CERCOPAN’s inspiration

4

Rescued youngsters get a second chance

4

Green light for World Environment Day 2010

5

Opportunity knocks

5

Want to be a part of it?

6

Chief Etan spearheads the push for action on climate change

3

CERCO-NEWSN O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

Red Eared Guenons were among the many primate species ob-served

Osam at one of the hunter sheds

P A G E 2

‘Originally 18

mangabeys were

moved to our

forest site but their

breeding has been

so impressive that

we have nearly hit

the 50 mark!’

Claire Coulson, CERCOPAN

Director

Mottie’s passport to freedom

New addition to the family

From the Director Welcome to the second edition of CERCONEWS! This month’s update of the comings and goings in our Calabar and Rhoko sites is a mixed bag of emotions. There are heart warming stories of new baby or-phans, some coming from terrible conditions, getting a new life and a second chance at CERCOPAN HQ. We also have excitement and adventure, and listen-ing to Sylvain’s recollec-tions of his 4 day explora-tion in the research area it

certainly was hair-raising at times! New opportunities and a chance to shine for some of our most dedi-cated staff and a few of our monkeys too. I’m par-ticularly excited about Mottie it looks like he will get a chance to come full circle in his turbulent life. I remember him arriving in a terrible state; witnessing such a change of fortunes makes wonderful news. We have, however, also been touched by sadness this past month as one of

our most beloved mon-keys passed away, seeing staff react to the news was heartbreaking and re-minded me how much everyone here really cares. That in itself continues to make me really proud of what we are achieving as I know a little bit of that compassion rubs off on every visitor who walks through our gates. Enjoy this month’s offering and check in next month to follow everyone’s pro-gress!

age, but we are very happy that they are reproducing so successfully.

Originally 18 man-gabeys were moved to our forest site but their breeding has been so impressive that we have nearly hit the 50 mark! We plan to release a group of mangabeys in 2010 and are currently determining

We are pleased to announce the birth of a new baby mangabey at our Rhoko forest site! Blessing, a female belonging to the group of mangabeys living in our semi-free ranging forest enclosure, gave birth last month We are still unsure of the sex of the baby as this is very difficult to determine at such a young

selection criteria to select the animals most suitable for the first release.

You never know, maybe this latest addition will be one of those chosen to return to the wild and in the future this mangabey may be the proud parent of truly wild born babies.

how he will get on with the group.

When Mottie first arrived at CERCOPAN in 2007 he had some serious health issues, mainly due to the inappropriate diet given to him by his former owner. Poor mottie was in such a neglected state he was almost bald and it was

difficult even to discern that he was a Mona mon-key. We all hope Mot-tie will prove himself as a good leader and make a suitable release candidate. After the years spent con-fined as a pet it is exciting to think he may have a chance for ultimate free-dom.

Our planned mona monkey release has been waiting on a suitable male to lead the group for a long time now. Trials with other males have so far not yielded the re-quired results to allow the release to go ahead, but now we are trying with a new male, Mottie, to see

Our youngest Rhoko mangabey with our eldest

male, Clyde

P A G E 3

Chief Etan spearheads the push for action on climate change

On the 21st of Oc-tober 2009 Chief Nelson E.A. Etan, Clan Head of Iko Esai accompanied Rhoko Forest manager Richard Carroll to Abuja to present CERCOPAN’s approved pilot project on Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change (BNRCC). The event organ-ised by the Canadian Inter-national Development Agency (CIDA) and NEST (Nigerian Environmental action/study Team) was the official launch and media forum for the upcoming 2 year programme of activi-ties aimed at building awareness and adaptive capacity to the impacts of climate change in Nigeria. Seated at the high table for the morning’s me-dia presentations, Chief Etan represented Nigeria’s rural households in this im-portant watershed event which has great implications for the lives of many of Ni-geria’s most vulnerable communities. The assembled

delegates from national and international media bodies were treated to a series of stirring speeches, highlight-ing the need for action to prepare those most at risk for the unavoidable effects of Global Warming. As part of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nige-ria will be one of the na-tions most impacted by the expected climatic changes. With many of her people still dependent on natural resources, such as Rainfor-est and mangrove systems, there is an urgent need to put in place methods of reducing pressure and halt-ing the degradation of these resources. CERCOPAN in part-nership with Coastal Life Initiative (COLIN) and Devel-opment In Nigeria (DIN) are one of five pilot projects accepted for the BNRCC programme. Each project focuses on a different eco-zone within Nigeria; our focus being the Rainforest and Coastal communities. Following the

morning’s press event; Chief Etan and Richard held pri-vate media briefings and gave a poster presentation outlining the proposed ac-tivities and objectives in these regions. The project aims to reduce the vulnerability of target communities by building awareness, facilitating com-munity adaptive capacity and providing income diver-sification through a range of alternative livelihoods such as fish farming, bee-keeping and the domestica-tion of traditional forest products. By protecting Nige-ria’s forests this project has an obvious benefit for the entire planet in the struggle to control the levels of car-bon in the global atmos-phere. The event was a major suc-cess and highlighted the benefits of NGO and Com-munity partnerships in tack-ling such major issues.

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

“As part of Sub-

Saharan Africa,

Nigeria will be

one of the nations

most impacted by

the expected

climatic changes”

Chief Etan at the High Table for the Media

Conference

P A G E 4

‘He was painfully

thin and upon

closer inspection

had a deep

infected would in

his leg and a sore

band around the

stomach where the

rope had cut in to

his skin’

CERCOPAN founder Zena Tooze

with Leo

Rescued youngsters get a second chance

Leo; CERCOPAN’s inspiration We were very sad this month when Leo, CER-COPAN’s first ever rescued monkey and the inspiration for the founding of the organiza-tion, was taken ill quite sud-denly and discovered to have a tumour. Leo’s enclosure was the first one seen when enter-ing the CERCOPAN com-pound and there he could welcome visitors while staff explained the start of CER-COPAN and Leo’s huge role in the organization. Leo arrived in 1991 after being confiscated from his captors as a tiny 4 week old infant, weighing only 400 grams – the staff of the Cross River State National Park (CRNP) were even unsure

what species he was! Pale, thin, and dehydrated when he arrived, he was not eating solid food and taking very little milk. As Zena was work-ing full time for the CRNP at the time, her rescued Alsatian, Lyka, became his adoptive mum. He would ride around perched behind Lyka’s ears like a little jockey, clinging on tightly, and sleeping with her constantly. Little did he or Zena realize what would start as a result! Over the next year 5 more monkeys joined Leo and the rest, as they say, is history. Despite his quite hair-raising youth, full of es-capes, Leo grew up to be a very peaceful monkey and

avoided fights, resulting in him never being an alpha male him-self – this never seemed to worry him and he got along with all other monas he met, including alpha males. Although quite particular about who he liked in the human world, Leo had an extremely caring side and made a fantastic adoptive father to all the young monas who joined him over the years, despite never raising infants of his own. Leo was put to sleep after discovering the tumour, which we could do nothing to cure. He had a good, long life while at CERCOPAN and will never be forgotten by those of us who knew and loved him.

getting on famously and are constantly playing. They share two bowls of milk that they continually get soaked in as they cling to each other to drink, often accidently dunk-ing each other’s head into the milk!

Our new mona mon-key had a very unfortu-nate past, and still has a way to go until a full recovery. When our staff went to pick him up he was tied to a tree with a chain around his waist. He was painfully thin and upon closer inspection had a deep infected wound in his leg and a sore band around the stom-ach where the rope had cut into his skin.

After some per-suasion the owner allowed us to take the monkey into our care and he was immedi-ately attended to by our vet nurse, Austin.

The wound was

cleaned but unfortunately was too deep to leave without stitches. He has now been moved in to our quarantine area in an enclosure with much more space than he’s ever had before. Extremely shy of others, espe-cially humans, he spends a lot of time in a small wooden shelter box, peaking nervously from inside the door.

We look forward to the day when his wound has healed and he can be moved in with other monas, learning to socialize and building up his confidence. For now though, as his stitches are sore, he is gently being welcomed to CERCOPAN and observing his surroundings wearing a protective bandage that resembles a small corset!

This month we have had two new putty-nosed guenons and one mona monkey join our resident population!

Flexy and Delight , two putty-nosed guenons, were rescued from a compound in Calabar where they were being kept as pets and were about to be sold.

A team of four CERCOPAN staff went to confiscate the monkeys, as we believed there may be trouble if this was a commercial operation. Luckily however, the hand over went fairly smoothly as the owners of the monkeys knew about CERCOPAN and the work we do.

Now Flexy and Delight have been moved in with another four young putty-nosed guenons: Emma, Maya, Angel and one we have yet to name. The six are

C E R C O - N E W S

Our corseted new-bie on the road to recovery

Flexy and Delight: the adventurous duo

Green light for World Environment Day 2010! P A G E 5 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

We are very excited to, yet again, have been chosen by Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden to receive a funding grant contributing towards CERCOPAN’s annual ‘World Environment Day’ event. This year’s rally was a huge success and we are determined

that this years festivities will be bigger and better!

The theme for the

2010 event is ‘Biodiversity; our survival depends on it’. It will involve pre-rally interactive conservation talks with participating schools, awareness campaigns to visitors and the general public, competitions Including tree planting, 15 minute dramatizations based on the

theme of biodiversity, and the on-the-day speeches, parade, competi-tions prize giving etc.

It will hopefully be attended by over 4000 teachers and students from the 50 secondary and 20 primary schools involved in our outreach programme. In addition the message should reach considerably more due to non-student attendees plus the wide media coverage it receives via television, radio and newspaper articles.

education department Abakum became Education Officer in January 2009. He will be remaining in this position but will now be in charge of CERCOPAN’s entire education programme, including our televised annual event ‘World Environment Day’ and highly successful outreach programme.

Egu has also been with CERCOPAN for many years, having been employed by CERCOPAN in 1998. Earlier this year Egu was promoted to Head Keeper in recognition of his excellent work in this field. This position will now be a senior staff position and he will be fully managing all other keepers and be in charge of CERCOPAN’s animal care programme and enclosure maintenance and construction.

Matthew, a primate keeper has also been given additional responsibilities in light of his hard work and effort . He recently undertook a primatology course and will hopefully begin an

animal behaviour course in the near future. Matthew will be helping CERCOPAN with a captive putty-nosed guenon study, looking at the welfare implications of different enclosure designs.

Joshua arrived in May and is the latest member of our Calabar Keeper team. We are delighted to announce that after his three month probationary period he has been offered a permanent staff position and we are all very pleased that he has agreed to accept it. Joshua has become a valued member of our team, working hard alongside others. He is building up personal relationships with the monkeys in our care and his favorite is Billy, a male mona infamous for his escape artist abilities.

We welcome Joshua in to the CERCOPAN family and hope he will remain with us for a long time, continuing to learn new skills and progressing within the organization.

We would like to say a huge congratulations to Austin, Abakum, Egu and Matthew who have all received promotions this month! Also to Joshua, who has just finished his probationary pe-riod and is now a permanent CERCOPAN staff member!

Austin, our vet nurse, has worked at CERCOPAN for 11 years. He started at CERCOPAN as a keeper, progressed to Vet assistant and after showing a great deal of potential he is now a member of senior staff. In addition to his veterinary respon-sibilities, Austin will now be taking on additional tasks including office management, administration, writing blogs and adoption newsletters !

Abakum started work at CERCOPAN as a keeper in November 1999. He has been undertaking a degree programme part time at the University of Calabar in Environmental resource management. After showing interest and promise in the

Celebrations from the last

World Environment

Day

Opportunity knocks...

‘We would like

to say a huge

congratulations

to Austin,

Abakum, Egu

and Matthew

who have all

received

promotions this

month!’

Austin A

bakum

Matthew

Egu Joshua

All photos in this newsletter were taken at CERCOPAN or Iko Esai by staff, volunteers and visitors.

Photo Credits: Sylvain Lemoine, Amy Baxter, Richard Carroll, Sam Trull Oskar BrattstrÖm © Copyright CERCOPAN 2009

Design & Layout by Claire Coulson; Written by Claire Coulson, Amy Baxter, Richard Carroll, and Sylvain Lemone; Edited by Claire Coulson

www.cercopan.org http://cercopan.wildlifedirect.org

WANT TO BE A PART OF IT?

• Stay in touch with our on-going programme by bookmarking our home page http://www.cercopan.org/ and our Blog site http://cercopan.wildlifedirect.org/

• Volunteer for CERCOPAN in either Nigeria or

the UK. We offer a range of different programmes so there is something for everyone! Visit our website volunteer section for further details.

• Help CERCOPAN attain corporate funding. If

you work for a corporate sponsor who may be interested in funding CERCOPAN please contact claire.coulson@cercopan.org

• Undertaken a sponsored event to raise

funds for CERCOPAN.

• Make a cash donation to CERCOPAN via our

website...every little helps! • Buy a gift for friends or family from the

Good Gifts Catalogue (www.goodgifts.org). You can buy a month's supply of fruit for growing CERCOPAN orphan monkeys - called in the catalogue 'A-peeling Monkeys' for only £20! The price of the gift is passed on to CERCOPAN. So, it is an excellent way of solving your gift problems, and support-ing our work! Alternatively visit the CERCO-PAN gift shop on our website today.

• Donate useful goods and equipment such as

building and fencing materials, veterinary medicines, old laptop computers etc. or services such as printing, blood testing and architectural design.