BABY SEASON IN FULL SWING!
Let’s share some stories with you all…
The foundation is currently looking after 27 vervet babies and 1 bushbaby.
7 of the vervet babies have already been integrated in a troop and are living together with their new adoptive families.
7 little ones are with foster mums waiting to get out in a troop and we have big plans coming up for the Disneyland crew as they will meet their new mums in the next couple of weeks
In this newsletter you’ll get to know most of this season’s babies.
Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading about these little characters growing into quite amazing individuals…
A big thank you goes out to all our motivated and caring staff, interns and volunteers without whom it wouldn’t be possible to give all our babies a second chance in life, to get them adapted to their new environment and introduce them to their new vervet monkey mums and their whole new big family with whom they will live a natural life again!
Tommy: was our first vervet orphan of the season, arriving at the foundation on November 5th. He was found alone, getting kicked around by buck, on the Mokopane golf course.
He is a very playful boy who is curious of his surroundings. He loves milk and has a milk belly to prove it. Tommy quickly mastered the milk cage and became friends with Loustic who he could wrestle around with. Both him and Loustic were introduced to foster monkey mums in Koko troop. He was nervous at first but quickly warmed up to his new monkey mum Panacur and spent every night cuddled up with her.
Tommy and Loustic were released into Koko troop on January 17th and have been doing great so far!
Maysie: arrived at the foundation on November 9th. Strangely, her story and origin are the same as Tommy’s as she too was found alone on the Mokopane golf course.
We think that she probably came from the same troop as Tommy and quickly contacted the golf course to see what was going on. Maysie was underweight and nervous when she arrived with us.
She is a very confident climber and enjoys climbing to the very top of the intro cage. She does not like rough play and has bonded closely with some of our other girl orphans.
She now lives with Foxy and Mrs. Gold in Goliath troop.
(picture: Mrs. Gold, Foxy and Maysie)
Loustic: arrived at the foundation on November 15th.
He was found clinging to his dead mother after they had been hit by a car whilst crossing the road. He is very independent and confident. Loustic befriended our first baby orphan of the season, Tommy, and the two of them became inseparable. He was quick to seek out attention from his foster monkey mum, Luka, in Koko troop.
On January 17th, the boys were released into the troop with their mums and Loustic is having a ball! He’s always either eating papaya or playing with 1 yr old orphans Peggy and Joli, sometimes both at the same time!
(picture: Luka and Loustic)
Pakko: arrived at the foundation on November 17th.
He was found with his mother on the side of the road after she had been killed by a car. We estimate that Pakko was only a few weeks old when he was brought to us. He is a very sweet boy who plays hard and naps harder.
He does not like bugs and can be found alarm chirping and running for comfort if a beetle or millipede finds its way into the intro cage. He is growing every day and is going to be a big, strong male.
Big, strong males can still be afraid of bugs, right?
He is now with monkey foster mums Polar & Bernadette at Skrow with Baba-Cool and Diane and will be released into the troop soon.
(picture: Pakko, Diane, Baba-Cool with Polar)
Dixie: arrived to the foundation on November 18th.
She has a similar story to many of the vervets we receive.
She, too was carried by her mother who was killed by a car. Luckily Dixie survived and just sustained some scrapes on her face from the incident. We estimate that she was only 72 hours old when she arrived due to her small size and visible umbilical stump. Despite her small size, she is very brave and is not afraid to explore new surroundings.
She is now with Darcy and foster mums Chippie and Elsie and sometimes Marley in a Robert troop intro cage. This is the first time we are using Robert troop as part of the Foster Mum Programme and everyone is very excited!
(picture: Dixie and Aurelia)
Foxy: arrived to the foundation on November 19th after her mum was killed by a dog.
Luckily, Foxy did not sustain any injuries herself. She can be described as a sassy little lady who is not afraid to let you know if she does not like something. Foxy enjoys grooming and sitting high up on the perches.
She has befriended Maysie while in Disneyland, and they are now happily together in Goliath troop with their foster monkey mum, Mrs. Gold.
(Picture: Mrs. Gold, Foxy and Maysie)
Paloma: arrived to the foundation on November 20th.
She was attacked by a dog and had major injuries. She had multiple wounds on her face and a fractured skull leaving her in critical condition her first couple of days here at the VMF. Thankfully, she pulled through and is now a healthy girl. Paloma loves papaya and will push other monkeys out of the way to get the best pieces on the plate.
Her first friend was Dixie, who she clung to upon meeting. She is a real sweetheart who is cautious of her surroundings but will follow her Disneyland friends into unknown territory.
She and Yllena have joined the Koko troop with foster mum Kara with other orphans Tommy and Loustic.
(picture: Yllena and Paloma)
Baba-Cool: arrived to the foundation on November 25th.
Unfortunately, her story – like many others – is a bit unclear, but includes something about a dog and a farm. She was originally brought to Caryn (our satellite baby mum in Joburg) before arriving at the foundation.
She has very dark features and a distinctive unibrow. She enjoys being groomed and will solicit grooming sessions from her vervet friends often. Baba-Cool is also an independent lady who is very curious of the world around her.
She is with Diane and Pakko on the side of Skrow troop with foster mums Bernadette & Polar. Skrow troop is a very experienced foster troop and everyone is excited to meet their new babies!
(picture: Baba Cool and Bernadette)
Yllena: arrived to the foundation on November 27th.
She was found alone in a driveway. Even though she was calling for her mom, no troop was in sight, so she was brought to the foundation for further care.
Yllena was not afraid to explore Disneyland and quickly learned how to use the feeding cage. She loves tasting the different types of forage offered to her – her favorite being figs.
She, along with Paloma, have enjoyed exploring their introduction cage at Koko and are now in the troop with foster mum Kara. (picture: Yllena and Paloma)
Darcy: arrived to the foundation on November 29th.
She was found sitting alone on a gas tank in a safari park.
She enjoys attention and has one of the best play faces that she often flashes at all of her newfound friends in Disneyland. Her energy is contagious and she initiates play sessions with all of the babies where they bounce around from branch to branch or climb high up in Disneyland.
Often times she gets so pooped in the middle of her playtime, that she will fall asleep cuddled high up on a perch. She is now with Dixie with foster mums Chippie & Marley at Robert Troop.
(picture: Darcy and Chippie)
Vera: arrived to the foundation on December 11thafter being stitched up by a vet in Hoedspruit.
We estimate from her teeny, tiny size and lack of teeth, that she was less than a week old upon arrival. She had been hit by a car and had some serious injuries on her back from the accident.
The stitches ran a few inches down her back, but that did not stop her from enjoying her time with the other babies in Disneyland. You would never know that she had sustained such a large injury as she was often found chasing after her new friends.
She is now at SAAV foster mums with her new friend orphan Horst and, although he was a little nervous at first, the two play wrestle together and will snuggle up tight for afternoon naps.
Diane: arrived to the foundation on December 12th.
She had been kept as a pet and was absolutely terrified of people upon arrival.
She has become fast friends with Baba-Cool. She, Baba-Cool and Pakko are with monkey mums Bernadette & Polar at Skrow troop, counting down the days until they can go into the enclosure.
Horst: After several weeks of no arrivals, Horst showed up on January 14th, in the middle of the night.
As with many other orphans, his story is unknown but we suspect he was kept as a pet as he’s quite underweight and smelled of cigarettes when he arrived! We bathed him first thing the next morning as he explored Neverland.
Horst might be small now but will soon get bigger considering how big his appetite is! He’s rarely far from the food plate and usually has his cheek pouches bulging with fruit.
He has recently moved to SAAV with orphan Vera and is often with one of the foster mums Priya.
Abby: also arrived on January 14th after being picked up in Louis Trichardt.
At about 3 months old, she’s much larger and more confident than the other babies and she arrived with a black eye which luckily healed quickly. She was allegedly turned into someone from some farm hands and she certainly acts like a wild monkey!
Although calmer than wild monkeys in the past, she keeps her distance from humans and is showed great interest in Sickbay troop. She has been fully integrated into the Sickbay troop and her foster mum Dolly and will no doubt form quite the gang with last year’s orphans Dumbo, Meghan and Tesha.
The only problem is as Abby is so big some of last year’s orphans are taking advantage and also going in the milk feeding cage to drink.
Toni: our lesser bushbaby is doing fantastically and is nearing the end stages of his rehabilitation.
He is currently staying with our Volunteer Manager Hana at our release cabin where he will soon be exploring the outside world.
We have successfully released many bushbabies in the past in this way and we are confident that he will join the wild troop without a hitch.
He has doubled in size since his arrival in November and loves any and every bug he comes across!
Zea: Estimated at 18 months old, Zea, a very sweet female samango monkey was brought to the foundation on December 5th.
She was kept as a pet illegally and was transferred to us with a broken arm. We don’t know much more about her story, but we do know that she is loving her new life at the foundation!
Once she completed her quarantine period, she moved down to Mango’s intro cage next door to Mango and Jessie. Mango and Zea hit it off immediately through the fence and Zea is now fully integrated with the boys. They play a lot together and have a lot of fun.
Our volunteers have also been hard at work on our new Samango enclosure and we hope to get our Samango trio moved over soon to their awesome new enclosure.
Vervet Monkey Foundation – PO BOX 415 – TZANEEN 0850
©FEOA