Research Article

After the fire: benefits of reduced ground cover for vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops)

  1. Karin Enstam Jaffe1,2,*,
  2. Lynne A. Isbell1

Article first published online: 3 DEC 2008

DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20644

Issue

American Journal of Primatology

American Journal of Primatology

Volume 71, Issue 3, pages 252–260, March 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Jaffe, K. E. and Isbell, L. A. (2009), After the fire: benefits of reduced ground cover for vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops). Am. J. Primatol., 71: 252–260. doi: 10.1002/ajp.20644

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, California

  2. 2

    Department of Anthropology, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California

*Department of Anthropology, Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park, CA 94928

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 21 JAN 2009
  2. Article first published online: 3 DEC 2008
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 5 NOV 2008
  4. Manuscript Revised: 8 OCT 2008
  5. Manuscript Received: 19 MAY 2008

Funded by

  • NSF. Grant Numbers: BCS 9903949, SBR 9710514
  • LSB Leakey Foundation
  • Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Grant Number: GR-6304
  • UC Davis Bridge Grant program
  • UC Davis Faculty Research Grant program
  • California National Primate Research Center. Grant Number: RR00169
  • UC Davis
  • Sonoma State University

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Keywords:

  • habitat use;
  • El Niño;
  • GIS;
  • Kenya;
  • predator avoidance

Abstract

Here we describe changes in ranging behavior and other activities of vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) after a wildfire eliminated grass cover in a large area near the study group's home range. Soon after the fire, the vervets ranged farther away from tall trees that provide refuge from mammalian predators, and moved into the burned area where they had never been observed to go before the fire occurred. Visibility at vervet eye-level was 10 times farther in the burned area than in unburned areas. They traveled faster, and adult females spent more time feeding and less time scanning bipedally in the burned area than in the unburned area. The burned area's greater visibility may have lowered the animals' perceived risk of predation there, and may have provided them with an unusual opportunity to eat acacia ants. Am. J. Primatol. 71:252–260, 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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