© Stephanie Mercier
Biodiversity loss and species extinction are alarming due to anthropogenic impacts on our ecosystems. Whilst many species go extinct, some animals, including a variety of primate species, thrive in human altered habitats. The extent to which animals can persist in, or colonise anthropogenic niches varies both across and within species, leading to a myriad of challenges and opportunities for both humans and animals in areas of co-occurrence. These differences have stimulated new scientific disciplines, and Urban Evolution and Urban Behavioural Ecology are now growing into timely and substantially important topics contributing to our understanding of evolutionary adaptations.
The Urban Vervet Project was established in 2022 to study primate behaviour in an anthropogenic habitat. Our research ranges from discovering the traits involved in successful adaptation, impacts on habitat use and animal welfare and health consequences. Whilst many primate species face extinction or severe population declines as their pristine habitats are eliminated, vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) are one of a few primates that manages well in urban ecosystems. They are native to southern and eastern parts of Africa, where they inhabit savannahs, woodlands, coastal forests as well as both residential and agricultural areas. Vervet monkeys are highly social and group living primates that show wide behavioural flexibility, allowing them to exploit new niches across urbanised ecosystems. Their pre-adaptation for an opportunistic and generalist diet enables them to integrate human food sources to their dietary repertoire in areas of co-existence. At the Urban Vervet Project, we study a semi-urbanised population located at Simbithi Eco-Estate in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data on this population was originally initiated by Prof. Colleen Downs team in 2016-2017. With funding from the KONE Foundation (Finland) Dr. Sofia Forss followed up and launched a new long-term study end of 2022 with the aim to uncover the traits involved in successful adaptation, in order to understand and predict the ongoing impacts of urbanization on animal populations.
With our research team we currently collect individual level data on two monkey troops ranging within the Simbithi estate, including details on their foraging behaviour, social life, movement patterns as well as targeted research on this populations challenges such as encounters with domestic dogs, frequent between species interactions with other wildlife living within the estate and the impacts of human exposure. We complement our behavioural data with experimental work on motivational and cognitive traits that we predict are involved in this species successful adaptation to urbanised areas. In our work we take great caution to the Simbithi residents and their privacy, as our monkeys frequently passes residential properties.
You can find out more about our research activities over our social media news and our monthly newsletter.
The Urban Vervet Project was established in 2022 to study primate behaviour in an anthropogenic habitat. Our research ranges from discovering the traits involved in successful adaptation, impacts on habitat use and animal welfare and health consequences. Whilst many primate species face extinction or severe population declines as their pristine habitats are eliminated, vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) are one of a few primates that manages well in urban ecosystems. They are native to southern and eastern parts of Africa, where they inhabit savannahs, woodlands, coastal forests as well as both residential and agricultural areas. Vervet monkeys are highly social and group living primates that show wide behavioural flexibility, allowing them to exploit new niches across urbanised ecosystems. Their pre-adaptation for an opportunistic and generalist diet enables them to integrate human food sources to their dietary repertoire in areas of co-existence. At the Urban Vervet Project, we study a semi-urbanised population located at Simbithi Eco-Estate in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Data on this population was originally initiated by Prof. Colleen Downs team in 2016-2017. With funding from the KONE Foundation (Finland) Dr. Sofia Forss followed up and launched a new long-term study end of 2022 with the aim to uncover the traits involved in successful adaptation, in order to understand and predict the ongoing impacts of urbanization on animal populations.
With our research team we currently collect individual level data on two monkey troops ranging within the Simbithi estate, including details on their foraging behaviour, social life, movement patterns as well as targeted research on this populations challenges such as encounters with domestic dogs, frequent between species interactions with other wildlife living within the estate and the impacts of human exposure. We complement our behavioural data with experimental work on motivational and cognitive traits that we predict are involved in this species successful adaptation to urbanised areas. In our work we take great caution to the Simbithi residents and their privacy, as our monkeys frequently passes residential properties.
You can find out more about our research activities over our social media news and our monthly newsletter.
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@urbanvervetproject.bsky.social
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@UrbanVervet
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