Henry the Vervet Monkey’s Daily Diary
Friday 22nd May
Thursday 21st May
Henry spent another day out in Fern enclosure today and this time his handler decided that he could be left out for an extra hour. This will continue until Henry is able to sleep outside in the enclosure. Henry spent time playing with a few of the troop members and is now able to eat before some of the others in the troop. This is a sign that the other monkeys are beginning to respect Henry, he is appearing that he may be high ranked in the troop.
Wednesday 20th May
Today Henry was very keen to get outside into ‘Fern enclosure’ His handler will sit outside the enclosure today and observe him from outside. This is because Henry is giving the impression that he has made friends and gained confidence to go off into the enclosure and not spending too much time with his handler anymore. A monkey usually lets you know in these ways that they are ready to move onto the next stage. Henry was very happy to go off into the enclosure without his handler coming in. His handler sat outside and observed him and the interaction between him and the rest of the monkeys in the troop. There were a couple of arguements today but nothing serious. Henry ate in the enclosure again today and spent the whole day in here. He was happy to come into his smaller enclosure and to see his handler at the end of the day.
Tuesday 19th May
Henry spent a lot of time in the trees today and his handler felt that he was becoming far more independent. He appeared to be gaining the trust of the other monkeys in the troop. Henry has made friends with Bollie who is a high ranked 2 year old in the group. Bollie was born into the troop and is quite a playful monkey. Henry and Bollie have formed a good friendship and jump around and play together. They groom eachother and Bollie will now stick up for Henry if another monkey becomes agressive towards him. Henry ate in the enclosure again today and wanted to stay out when it was time to go in. Tomorrow his handler has said they will sit outside the enclosure and just observe Henry from a distance.
Monday 18th May
Henry was taken into ‘Fern’ enclosure earlier in the morning again and today was a good day. Henry appeared to show a lot of awareness when approaching the other monkeys in the troop and he did this is a calm way, and this earned him more trust. The other monkeys in the group seemed to be more accepting due to this and let him groom them and they spent time grooming them. He also got the confidence to wander off into the main tree in the enclosure and spent some time in here. He ate dinner in the enclosure well without any real arguments and seemed more independent today.
Sunday 17th May
Henry was given the chance to relax again and given a day off in his smaller enclosure. His handler is giving him extra food at the moment. Sometimes when animals get stressed then they can lose weight or have difficulties in eating and have loose stools. So although this is not the case with Henry at the moment his handler wants to be careful and so he will have a rest today. His handler said he does appear quite tired so it will be good for him to rest today.
Saturday 16th May
Henry was taken out into his enclosure earlier this morning so he could spend longer in it today. This went well as he still seemed a bit nervous from yesterday. He had a few times where he went off up a tree and seemed to stay near his handler today. Today was the longest he had stayed out and he is doing well.
Friday 15th May
Henry was introduced to more monkeys in ‘Fern’ enclosure today. It went well to start with and 3 of the females all seemed very interested in coming over to meet him. At this stage some days can be better than others for him. Henry appeared to approach tascali too quickly today and started trying to groom her, she told him not to by raising her eyebrows at him but he didn’t back off and this then led into an argument. Henry will also need to learn how to deal with a fight should it happen so this is all part of his learning and integration experience. As he has not had any contact with monkeys in the past he has not had a lot of experience with interacting with them so needs to learn how to behave and how to take responsibility for his actions. Henry carried on argueing back which didn’t help. What the female appeared to be asking for was respect. It ended with Henry becoming scared and running to his handler for support. His handler decided not to let him eat in here today and he was fine.
Thursday 14th May
Henry was taken out into his enclosure today and his handler decided that today had appeared to go well, Henry for the first time played properly with another jeuvenile monkey called Nasa who was also an orphan and had gone through a simliar process to Henry when he was integrated out into Fern enclosure. The two monkeys had a small play fight and Henry made what looked to be a ‘smile’ on his face with his mouth and the two monkeys appeared to enjoy their time together. Henry stayed in Fern enclosure for dinner again today and this time was very wary of taking any food. This shows that he may be learning to respect the other monkeys. He only took food when the other monkeys in the group had taken theirs. Everyone in the group ate calmly and there was no fighting today. Henry was taken back into his smaller enclosure for the night by his handler who seemed pleased with today and said he had made great progress.
Wednesday 13th May
Henry was given a day off the enclosure and so stayed inside. He did however appear to have a relaxing day and was able to spend time with his handler one to one. This can be important for some monkeys but not for others. Henry was an orphan when he was bought into the conservation park and had been through a lot of stress due to not being around other monkeys and losing his mother at a young age. He had been rescued by a family who looked after him when he was very small so he had not met any other monkeys before he came in since that time of rescue. It appears to be imortant to keep up that contact early on in a controlled way and then gradually wean them off in a less stressful and more natural environment. The aim will be to have Henry integrated into a troop of monkeys and living back out in the wild.
Tuesday 12th May
Today was a little bit stressful for Henry, his handler took him out into the enclosure for a bit longer, everything was going well and he was being groomed by the other monkeys in the enclosure, especially Sarah and Tamar. As things were going quite well his handler decided to try and let him eat dinner with the others today. This is quite a big step as Henry will have to learn his ranking in the group and the order in which he is allowed to eat the food. He will still be fairly low ranked and will have to work his way up the ladder of respect. Henry took a piece of apple before everyone else and unfortunately got chased by several monkeys in the group, he appeared quite scared and managed to jump up the fence of the enclosure and out over the top. His handler went outside and manged to get him back safely. Henry was a bit shocked and went back into his smaller enclosure for the night. This is a normal process though and most monkeys usually go through this as they are being integrated. It can take some monkeys longer than others to learn the rules in the group and others seem to just know to automatically respect the group.
Monday 11th May
Henry appeared to be much better today and was chatting quite a lot again. His handler decided to take him back into ‘Fern enclosure’ again which went very well. He climbed a tree again and spent a lot of time with Marvin where they groomed each other. This is a good sign as it shows that Henry is learning to get on well with the monkeys in this enclosure. As he makes friends he will automatically find his ranking in the troop. Henry also spent some time with an adult female vervet monkey called Sarah. Sarah had been rescued from a house that had kept her as a pet. She is quite a gentle monkey and is scared of people. She is middle ranked in the troop and likes to look after the younger monkeys in the group. She likes to groom Henry and when he gets into any conflict she wraps her arms around him appearing to protect him. It has been quite a warm day today and all the monkeys in the group have been appearing to enjoy the sun. Henry stayed in the enclosure for 3 hours today. He is doing well.
Sunday 10th May
Henry was given a day off going into ‘Fern enclosure’ today as he had soft stools. Sometimes when a monkey has soft stools this may be due to stress or excitement. Henry was given some good nutritious food which he seemed to enjoy. Today he was quite quiet and appeared to be slightly tired. His handler decided that it would be better for Henry to have a day in his smaller enclosure to give him a rest. He did spend some time with his handler where she groomed him and he groomed her. This is important for the handler to build up trust and a good relationship with Henry to carry on his integration into ‘Fern enclosure’ . Henry lives with other monkeys who do not need the same attention however. Some monkeys are able to be more independent and do not need the human contact. Henry will eventually be weaned off the human contact once he is settled in ‘Fern enclosure’ to allow him to become more independent.
Saturday 9th May
Today was a great day, Henry got taken into ‘Fern’ enclosure first thing in the morning by his handler and gained lots of confidence today. He started to try and play with the other monkeys for the first time, he has started to groom them a lot and this morning Marvin showed aggression with his eyebrows to Henry so Henry quickly looked away and made the grooming noise appearing to try and calm the situation down. Marvin was responsive to this and let Henry groom him and started picking at the ground while he did this. Henry climbed a tree for the first time today. This was a brilliant experience for his handlers to see him do this. He sat up in the tree while his handler sat near him in the enclosure. When it was time to go in Henry stayed still and didn’t run after his handler so they new that this was a sign to leave him in longer today. Henry stayed in there for 2 extra hours today and then went back to his smaller enclosure appearing content and happy.
Friday 8th May
Henry was keen to get out of his smaller enclosure today as he is expecting to go out into the bigger enclosure. His bigger enclosure is called ‘fern’ and he is starting to enjoy his time in there each day. This morning his handler decided to take him in there straight after breakfast which he ate very quickly today. He went out into Fern enclosure today looking very confident and as soon as his handler took him in there he jumped straight off their lap and ventured off. He walked over to his 2 friends who groomed him yesterday and they were eating a piece of banana which Henry thought he would try and take off them. They opened their eyes wide and raise their eyebrows at him, whch in Vervet monkeys is a form of warning before aggressiveness. Henry backed off at this point and ran back to his handler for safety. He stayed quite close to his handler today because of this and found his confidence had been pushed a bit. But this was normal as he needed to learn to show the other monkeys in ‘fern’ enclosure some respect. Each of the monkeys in fern enclosure had been rescued at one point although 2 of the adult females were expected to be pregnant. This was a fairly new enclosure and each of the monkeys in here had been introduced slowly just like Henry.
Thursday 7th May
Today Henry woke early again, last night he settled to sleep after eating his dinner of peppers, corn, fruit and vegetables. It was quite cold last night as the South African winter has started and the evenings are getting a bit colder, but the days are still warm. Henry had some pro nutra porridge for his breakfast. He was quite chatty again and when you come up near to him he makes loud noises with his mouth because he wants to start grooming you. This morning he stayed in his smaller enclosure which had its daily clean and then his handler took him into the bigger enclosure. This morning he started to get his confidence a bit more and some of the other monkeys in the enclosure came over to him and started to groom him. This is a good sign as it means they are wanting to be friends with him. He stayed in the enclosure for just over and hour as we have to take it slowly with him. He appeared to be chatting quite a lot again today.
Wednesday 6th May
Today Henry woke up very early at about 5am, he slept in his night time enclosure last night, he was very talkative first thing this morning and wanted to groom every person that walked by his enclosure. He got given extra food this morning for breakfast and he ate a bowl of fruit, he picked out all the bits of banana first. He chatted a lot whenever someone waked past his enclosure. He then got taken by his handler out into the main enclosure so he can get used to being outside with other monkeys. He knows his handler well so trusts them to carry him out. When he was in his enclosure today he was a bit scared as it was his first time in here. He didn’t go far from his handler but started to venture off and interact to make friends with the other vervet monkeys in the troop. Tomorrow he will come out again. After about an hour he started to get a bit clingy and appeared to be tired so his handler bought him back into his smaller enclosure. He didn’t chat so much but he had done a lot of talking already today.