By Aoife Bulman | Charitable Trust Team
To take part in a travel pattern survey involves following a habituated group of Angola Black- and-white Colobus. The survey data will give an indication on home-range and habitat use. One of the initial goals of this survey is to identify and characterize movement of the tight-knit Colobus group’s trough the forest patches in Shimoni. In an attempt to identify primary feeding, resting and sleeping trees or areas, by calculating percentages of time spent on that activity per location. After identifying those primary activity sites, insight can be gained on the movement to and from these locations, and the relation of factors like habitat quality, food availability and seasonality to these patterns.
An observer picked a focal individual and recorded that specific individual’s behavior as a scan sample every two minutes. In addition, another observer tracks the movement of the focal individual, maps and tags the trees for later reference and identification.Obviously most of this survey requires quite some patience, recording very common activities such as sleeping, resting, foraging or feeding continuously. All of this helps us to understand the Colobus monkeys and ensure their safety in Shimonis forest.
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