Monkey Business

Meet some of our youngest monkey residents at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre.

Cape, Tuktuk and Moses

Affectionately known as the Three Musketeers, Cape, Tuktuk and Moses were rescued as orphan vervet monkeys and arrived at our sanctuary between December 2016 and January 2017. The trio was introduced to one another from a young age and then integrated into a troop so that they could make more friends. Social and playful, it didn’t take long for them to settle in and after two months they made their way to the big enclosure where they discovered the joy of playing and jumping in trees with their fellow young vervets. We are all very happy to see that the bond between Cape, Tuktuk and Moses has remained intact and it is a pleasure to watch them playing together outside every day. As with Chikondi, it will take some time for the troop to settle fully and learn to be dependent. Visit our Instagram to learn more about Tuktuk and his friends!

Chikondi

Rescued in October 2016, orphan monkey Chikondi was found being sold at the roadside as a baby. She was brought to the centre and introduced to one of our foster mums, Lulu, until she was old enough to be introduced into a troop. Easily stressed out and shy around others, it took Chikondi a long while to begin interacting with the other monkeys despite their friendly behaviour towards her. Once accepted into the troop, she took another big step and learnt to climb and sit in trees for the first time in her life. Today she can be seen eating and playing with the other vervets as she grows more comfortable being around others. This stage of rehabilitation is important, with group stabilisation of a troop taking a few years before their ability to survive on their own in the wild can be assessed and releases planned.

Jade, Dax and Lyson

Many of the young animals that arrive at our wildlife sanctuary have been caught up in the illegal pet trade here in Malawi. Separated from their mothers as babies, they lose out on developing key skills and can find it difficult — and in some cases impossible — to survive alone in the wild. Jade, Dax and Lyson, our yellow baboons, were all kept as pets and arrived at our centre when they were relatively young. Housed together for comfort and friendship, they bonded quickly, but it took much longer for them to re-socialise with our larger group of yellow baboons — also known as a troop. Socialising is an important part of rehabilitation, particularly in monkeys, as they have complex social structures and hierarchies within their groups.

Plucky Jade was accepted by the troop first and was able to be released into our outside enclosure with them much sooner than Dax and Lyson. However, we were really pleased to find that these two were finally able to follow her outside last week. The three were immensely happy to see one another again and started playing the minute they found each other! They have loads of enthusiasm and are very keen to explore, and can be seen at the sanctuary leaping from tree to tree, despite having only just learned how to climb.

If you’d like to help us care for our orphan animals and get involved in other activities such as animal husbandry, vet clinic support and observations, please click here to read more about our volunteer programme, or email lilongwewildlife@gmail.com.