Trends in vervet monkey admissions to a wildlife rehabilitation centre: a reflection of human-wildlife conflict in an urban-forest mosaic landscape

Abstract

Despite the common destructive effects of urbanisation on biodiversity assemblages, certain species thrive in urban environments. One mammalian species that has persisted in the urban-forest mosaic landscape is the vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus). It is a common resident primate in Durban, eThekwini Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, with frequent contact with humans and domestic wildlife. Due to their adaptability in using human-altered landscapes, the interactions between humans and vervet monkeys have increased and are often negative. Our study determined trends in the admission cases of vervet monkeys to a Durban wildlife rehabilitation centre and assessed the main factors contributing to these admissions to mitigate human-vervet monkey conflict. Our analyses were conducted on recorded admission data for vervet monkeys at a wildlife rehabilitation centre from 2011 to 2018. Members of the public (90.0%) mostly reported vervet cases, with admissions mostly recorded from the central district (46.8%) of the municipality. The number of admitted vervet monkeys increased significantly over the years and months, with a mean (± SE) of 127.3 ± 21.34 and 84.8 ± 5.37, respectively. Only 34.3% of vervet monkeys were alive at the end of the admission process from the 83.7% that were admitted alive at the rehabilitation centre. The high number of deaths resulted from anthropogenic activities, primarily motor vehicle strikes (30.8%) and domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) attacks (13.9%). We modelled survivability for vervet monkeys, and our results showed that season, age category, and the cause of admission were all significant factors influencing survival after admission. The sex of vervet monkeys had no significant effects on survivability after admission to the rehabilitation centre. We suggest that wildlife rehabilitation centres in priority areas use these findings in education to improve human coexistence with vervet monkeys. The trends also serve as a foundation for human-vervet conflict resolution programmes. The advantages of publishing records from rehabilitation centres are that they will raise awareness of the challenges posed by vervet monkeys in urban environments, where they are sometimes perceived as a nuisance because of anthropogenic influences in the urban mosaic landscape.