Wonderful monkeys of the savannah in Tanzania

COLUMN: IN THE WILD. SCIENTISTS say monkeys are a large and diverse mammal group that includes most primates, but they are typically smaller than apes and usually have tails, which apes lack.

There are a variety of monkeys, spread across the world, with very different lifestyles. They come in many shapes, sizes and colours, but they are all intelligent and social creatures.

Monkeys are famous for eating bananas, but their diet varies considerably across species, depending on where they live, and which foods are available. Most monkeys are omnivores because they eat plant-based foods such as fruits and nuts, as well as some meat, such as lizards and bird eggs.

That shows monkey diets can shift with changing seasons. Some monkeys mostly eat fruit when it is ripe, from January to May and eat more leaves from June to December according to availability of that particular food.

Many monkey species are arboreal or tree-dwelling although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Most species are diurnal whereby they are mainly active during the day.

Baboons are included in the group of monkeys whereby female olive baboon of high ranking don’t only get enough food supply and chance of being groomed by their subordinate they also have more opportunity to mate with male and breed more often than those who are of lower classes.

In order to live peaceful life in the troop, lower ranking members required to do some extra job to justify their position in the group or being forced out through fighting or other means of segregation.

To avoid isolation and expulsion a male baboon will do many things which includes grooming whereby he removes bugs and pests from the bodies of a mistress which normally relaxes and enjoys the practice because the practice brings the two classes together and allowing them to depend on each other.

The high-ranking female which is also called matriarch may collaborate with her close relatives to block other members of the troop from getting higher position or overthrowing her by forcing the to follow orders from the high-ranking mother.

The matriarch female issues her orders and regulations through signs whereby she will grind molar, yawning, rising of eyebrows while looking at her subordinates which will respond through signs such as half bending down and tail erecting which goes together with fearful smiles to tell the queen that she or he accepts and follow her orders.

The matrilineal system of these Baboons is very strong, and it doesn’t only segregate female from lower class but also denial outside males to have a direct contact with female members of the troop.

In order for a smart and tolerant male to get a breeding partner he must force himself to one female member of the troop of a higher class then if the rest of high-ranking female accept with what their fellow is doing, he may be allowed to join the troop.

Socially all members of the troop are bonded together and it’s an obligation to every individual to protect their troop from foreigner so whenever a stranger male is seen near the group, he will be chased away by male members that have the total responsibility of guarding the area where they live.

Male olive baboon well aware of the presence of segregation in their society, in order to get a breeding partner, they need to do something smart by allowing themselves to be exploited by greedy female. This is achieved by pretending to be their babysitters so that the mother may go out to feed or play with other while the smart boy is taking care of her youngster.

Clever male olive baboon will not only do that, but he may also wait until the availability of food supply from the area become very low forcing the troop migrate to a new area with enough pasture which may give him more chance of doing what is inside his mind.

This is when he will follow closer to a milking mother while pressing his request of helping her to carry a baby baboon which becomes a very heavy load to its mother after a long walk from a distant location in the savannah.

This is a unique friendship, and it is what ecologists around the world call a habit of a male olive baboon to pretend to be an exceptional babysitter in the savannah.

It is possible to say about this sharp behaviour of male baboons, but this system brings together nonsexual affiliated members of the group to live, forage, bring up a baby together while engaging with others in protecting female natal membership.

With high expectation and passion, a smart male olive baboon may be forced to be tolerant and wait for a very long time while working very hard for a female before he is allowed to breed with her.

From Manzese to Lalagwe people say be obedient to Kefir for your reward but inside Maswa game reserve without uttering any word from this Swahili say, they observe its regulation with great humble and they may work for many days before a female gets into heat period in the troop consisting of many hone boys.

It’s during this time when the exploitation of a male by female olive baboon may come to an end through a big struggle to get access into source of food first with your partner, to protect her from another male baboon and grooming her when the whole troop is relaxing under a huge tree.

A smart and beautiful female olive baboon will always make male to work for her for many days, weeks even years before he is allowed into the group where he may be given a chance to breed with her or another female.

Olive Baboon societies of the Savannah Forest lead a matrilineal system which gives a senior female an upper hand to control groups which are also called troops consisting of 15 to 150 members. The Baboons troops are made up and owned by related female members which live on well-established social classes that are inherited by offspring from one generation to another.

Meanwhile scientists say monkeys are social creatures that usually live together where a group of monkeys is called a troop. Monkeys have a variety of social systems. One of the most common troop structures is called a one-male group, in which a male leads a group of females and other males, usually staying close to a particular location.

The male has access to all of the females for mating, but his reign is constantly threatened by other males from outside the group that seek to overthrow him. Monkeys form strong social bonds and maintain them through activities such as grooming.

According to Oxford English dictionary philopatric is a tendency of animals to return into their place of birth which is respected and protected by all members of a particular family.

In ecology the behaviour of philopatry includes the act of juveniles to help their parents in the upbringing process of new babies in the family while going out for different activities and retreat to a particular place to sleep or rest.

Blue monkeys live in a female controlled philopatric social system which are good in this natural created devotion whereby mothers, sisters and aunties join hands in taking care of all babies in the group regardless of who was born by whom.

This leads into a social connection which involves infant blue monkey playing joyfully with their age mate and juvenile while mothers do other things like grooming each other and build strong friendship among members of the group.

The relation among female blue monkeys is strengthening at the time of foraging which they will do together and defend it from other group of blue monkeys or join force with other group to chase aggressively other species of small monkeys from eating delicious fruits and leaves in their territory.

Like most primates’ blue monkeys are arboreal who can climb on trees and walk or jump from one branch or tree to another also they are diurnal which means mostly they work or play during daytime and sleep on tree in the middle of thick tropical rain forest in a group called troop consisting of 10 to 40 individuals.

The troop is made up of many females with their babies, juvenile and only one male called alpha male. This happens because of a strong matrilineal social society which forces young male out of the troop.

The alpha male work as a protector of his family who is ready to fight with any intruder male who come near or across his territory but if other stronger group comes, he will look for assistance from mature female to push invaders out far away from their boundaries.

Blue Monkeys prefer to stay deep in tropical rain forest full of vegetation covers, abundant water supply and long trees with wide branches which they can use as source of fruits and provide shelter at night.

From a tree or while walking on the ground the blue monkey will communicate with each other through visual signals and acoustic language with adult producing distinctive explosive sound “pwy” similar to the sound you make when you suck your lips in and then separate them by force, but emotions of facial expression dominate most of their way of communication.

Blue monkeys are capable of relaying different message in different ways because when one of them yawns it apparently means that either the monkey is tired or angry about something while grinning being a sign of aggression. Scientists say monkeys make a variety of noises, from hoots to screams, often vocalising back and forth like humans talking to each other.

However, monkeys also use body language to communicate. Their body language can have very different meanings from similar body language in people.

When a monkey yawns it apparently means that either the monkey is tired, or the monkey is angry about something. Monkeys use different noises, facial expressions and body movements to communicate with one another, with the monkey grinning being a sign of aggression.

However, monkeys’ express affection and make peace with others by grooming each other. Blue Monkeys are very smart primates who use tactical and physical communication whereby females in heat will turn their back toward the alpha male as a sign of begging and invite him to copulate with them.

During sexual act the females show questionable signs of displeasure on their face which indicate that probably they don’t enjoy intercourse as other mammals do but they confuse ecologist as they don’t stop to look interestingly at their husband by turning the head back over the shoulder while the act is underway.

Male blue monkeys are polygamist who will work hard to copulate with many females in the troop and produce many infants as much as possible before his time finishes and ousted by another male who may be younger and stronger than him.

After takeover of the troop by a new male which normally is done through fighting between two rival males resulting into the existing Alpha male to lose the fight, he also automatically loses his position and chased out from the troop by females who feel happy to have a young and energetic father of their offspring.

As long as the natural calmness prevail deep in the tropical rain forest breeding takes place throughout the year and female give birth to one offspring weighing about 332.5 grammes after a gestation period of 132 days.

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Blue monkeys play a very important role in ecosystem by distributing seed of different trees which they obtain from fruits they also feed where other mammals do not reach due to heavy forest cover or humid condition.

In some area blue monkeys are facing persecution from farmers when they enter their farms to forage on plant such as maize and fruits, they are also losing the forest due to the increase of human economic activities.