Survival of a small translocated Procolobus kirkii population on Pemba Island

Abstract

A survey to evaluate the distribution of Procolobus kirkii on Pemba island (Tanzania) was conducted, 20 years after they had been translocated from Zanzibar in the Ngezi forest park. A team of both expert and trained observers, guided by the authors, censused 68.3 linear km of forest, corresponding to an estimated area of 3.5 km² (63.6%) of the protected Ngezi forested area of 5.5 km². Nineteen groups of Cercopithecus aethiops were observed, with a total of 166 animals and an estimated density of 47.43 individuals per km2, and only one troop of Procolobus kirkii. Supplemented by interviewing the local people we obtained an estimate of 15-30 P. kirkii, including a small troop outside the protected area. This small population survived but did not increase, possibly due to adverse relations with humans.