Photographs of Primates by Yvonne van der
Mey
There aren't a lot of different primate species in South Africa. The
largest of them is the Chacma Baboon, and a smaller one is the Blue Vervet
Monkey. In the very north of Kruger, along the border of the Luvuvhu river,
you can find the rare Samango, but I have never seen one. Both
the Lesser and the Thicktailed Bush Babies are primates as well
and although I have seen both quite a few times, I've not been able to
take a good photograph as both of them are nocturnal animals.
Chacma Baboons can get as tall 75 cm at shoulder height. The males
are particularly known as fierce fighters, in defence of their troops.
A fight between a big male and a leopard can end in defeat for the leopard,
but all the large predators see baboons as prey and they hunt on them
where possible. There are two sub-species of baboons in the Kruger National
Park. The ones in the very northern part have a yellowish coat, and the
ones more to the south are a greyish-brown. They have a strong family
bond with a strict hierarchy, where all the males outrank the females.
When a troop is taken over by a new leader, he very often kills any young
babies, so that the females come to oestrus again and he can take care
of the new editions. Baboons are omnivores, they eat everything that they
find, and are dependent on water.
Blue Vervet Monkeys are quite a bit smaller than baboons. The name
of this animal causes a lot of confusion. It is known as the Blue Vervet
monkey because of the blue scrotum of the males; the leading male has
the deepest colouring. They are also known as the Green Monkey, because
in some parts of Kruger their colouring is a yellow-reddish green. To
add even more confusion, this animal is called a "Meerkat" in
Dutch, which in English is of course reserved for the great looking animals
that live in the Kalahari desert. Anyhow, Vervet Monkeys are awesome to
observe, especially where humans go to eat: they just know who the newcomers
are, and can steal their food in the blink of an eye.
Please click on a thumbnail picture below to see a larger version of
the photo (please note that your Internet browser must allow pop-up pages
and javascript). For ease of use, there is also a numbered link on the
pop-up page, so that you can go from one photo to the next.
© Please respect the copyright protection on my work and contact
me if you are interested in possible reprint permisions. Thank you
and I hope you enjoy viewing my photographs.
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
