Diet of the ashy red colobus (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) and crop-raiding in a Forest-Farm Mosaic, Mbuzi, Rukwa Region, Tanzania

Abstract

The Ashy red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) was recently discovered in the Mbuzi Forest. Since then its forests have been degraded, fragmented and converted into farmland. In this study I documented the diet, including cultivated crops, of four groups in the Mbuzi forest-farm mosaic during two months in the crop-growing season, July-August 2011. Each group was followed for nine days; 36 days overall. It was not possible to extend the study in subsequent years because the forest was so fragmented that the monkeys were no longer staying in some patches. The monkeys fed mostly on wild plants. Crop-raiding was limited to beans, and occurred in the evenings when the farmers had left the fields. Extreme fragmentation, degradation and widespread forest conversion into farmland have drastically reduced the abundance of food trees; and it is likely that this has resulted in their crop-raiding. They are persecuted for this behavior, and retaliatory killing by farmers is probably contributing to their decline in the Mbuzi Forest. The conservation of intact montane forests on the Ufipa Plateau is crucial and urgent. Measures must include conservation education, community involvement and improved law enforcement, as well as provisions for local communities to reduce the destruction of the remaining forest patches.