Southern Patas Monkey
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The southern patas monkey (''Erythrocebus baumstarki'') is a
critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...
species of
Old World monkey Old World monkeys are primates in the family Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons (genus '' Papio''), red colobus (genus '' Piliocolob ...
found only in
Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
, and formerly in
Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
. It may be the most endangered primate in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
known to still be extant, with only 100 to 200 known wild individuals.


Taxonomy

This species was described in 1905, but later reclassified as a subspecies of the
common patas monkey The common patas monkey (''Erythrocebus patas''), also known as the hussar monkey, is a ground-dwelling monkey distributed over semi-arid areas of West Africa, and into East Africa. Taxonomy There is some confusion surrounding if there are v ...
(''E. patas''). However, a 2017 review on variation and taxonomy in ''
Erythrocebus ''Erythrocebus'' is a genus of Old World monkey. All three species in this genus are found in Africa, and are known as patas monkeys. While previously considered a monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that con ...
'' supported reclassifying it as a distinct species based on its distinctive appearance and geographic separation from the other two species. This taxonomy was followed by the
IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
and
American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...
. Phylogenetic evidence has also affirmed ''E. baumstarki'' as being a distinct species. It is possible that due to its seemingly-
relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...
ual distribution at the fringe of the range of ''
Erythrocebus ''Erythrocebus'' is a genus of Old World monkey. All three species in this genus are found in Africa, and are known as patas monkeys. While previously considered a monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that con ...
'', ''E.'' ''baumstarki'' may represent an ancient lineage of ''Erythrocebus'' that has been largely supplanted by ''E. patas'' throughout the rest of its range.


Distribution

In the early 20th century, this species had a relatively small distribution in northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. Two major populations were known, separated by the
Great Rift Valley The Great Rift Valley () is a series of contiguous geographic depressions, approximately 6,000 or in total length, the definition varying between sources, that runs from the southern Turkish Hatay Province in Asia, through the Red Sea, to Moz ...
: the
Serengeti The Serengeti ( ) ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa, spanning the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania. The protected area within the region includes approximately of land, including the Serengeti National Park and several game r ...
population, found west of the valley, and the
Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...
population, found east of the valley. The Kilimanjaro population was the much larger of the two populations, ranging from
Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
south to Lolkisale. Over the following century, the population suffered a heavy decline; the Kilimanjaro population suffered the greatest losses despite originally being the larger population; the very last known individual, a deceased juvenile killed by
domestic dogs The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. T ...
, was recorded in 2011. Over the next several years, the species suffered further losses; the very last individual in Kenya, a lone individual sighted in
Maasai Mara National Reserve Maasai Mara, sometimes also spelt Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok County, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honour of the Maasai people, the ...
, was recorded in 2015. The species' range in Tanzania had also continued to contract over the past 2 decades, and by 2021 it was restricted to the western Serengeti region.


Habitat

This species inhabits
semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...
acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...
woodland, primarily whistling thorn (''Vachellia drepanolobium'') woodland. The majority of its diet derives directly from the whistling thorn, with half of this deriving from the gum of the tree, and another half of this deriving from ants of the genus ''
Crematogaster ''Crematogaster'' is an ecologically diverse genus of ants found worldwide, which are characterised by a distinctive heart-shaped gaster (insect anatomy), gaster (abdomen), which gives them one of their common names, the Saint Valentine ant. Mem ...
'', which have a mutualistic relationship with the whistling thorn. The whistling thorn is primarily found above 500 meters
above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...
and is not found below 200 meters, serving as a prominent altitudinal limit for ''E. baumstarki''.


Description

''E. baumstarki'' is one of two known species of ''Erythrocebus'' with a black face and nose, at least in adult males, with the other being the Blue Nile patas monkey (''E. poliocephalus'').


Status

''E. baumstarki'' was likely never a common species; although it is difficult to observe, its core range is heavily visited by tourists and naturalists, and the very few historic specimens indicate that it was likely already rare when it was described in 1905. Following the dramatic declines over the 20th and early 21st centuries, this species is now exclusively restricted to protected areas. These remnant populations are thought to only total 100 to 200 total individuals, amounting to 50 to 100 mature individuals.


Threats

The largest threat to the species and the main driver of its decline is the heavy
population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The World population, global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to aroun ...
in its home range, which, when combined with unsustainable use of natural resources, which has led to heavy
habitat degradation Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
, especially in ''V. drepanolobium'' woodlands. Many of these woodlands have been cleared for agriculture and livestock rearing, and remaining woodlands are frequently encroached upon by livestock, further degrading them. The growing population in the region has also led to competition between wildlife and humans/livestock for drinking water. ''Erythrocebus'' species depend on permanent sources of drinking water, especially after the increasingly frequent periods of
drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
; however, many of these water sources have herders present all day long, putting the monkeys into conflict with herders and domestic dogs, who may kill monkeys. Lack of access to water and persecution at the available water sources is thought to be a major risk to the species. In addition, this species is frequently caught in snares from illegal
poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...
operations, despite not being a target species. These risks have all likely led to a decline in
genetic diversity Genetic diversity is the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It ranges widely, from the number of species to differences within species, and can be correlated to the span of survival for a species. It is d ...
of the species, which may further threaten it.
Climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
may also be a potential threat due to it spurring a decrease in water availability and ''V. drepanolobium'' inhabiting specific altitudes that may decrease with warming, although its impact may be limited as patas monkeys have shown potential to adapt; due to this, human interactions likely serve as the greater threat to the species, and may magnify the effects climate change has on the species. Aside from
Miss Waldron's red colobus Miss Waldron's red colobus (''Piliocolobus waldronae'') is a species of the red colobus native to West Africa. It had previously been described as a subspecies of the western red colobus, ''P. badius''. It has not been officially sighted since ...
(''Piliocolobus waldronae'') and the Mount Kenya potto (''Perodicticus ibeanus stockleyi''), both of which may be potentially
extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
already, the southern patas monkey could be the most endangered primate in Africa, and may potentially be the next to go extinct. Some estimates indicate that without conservation efforts, the species could go extinct before 2031.


Conservation

The lack of conservation actions for this species may be due to it being very poorly-known, as well as it previously being considered a subspecies of the
common patas monkey The common patas monkey (''Erythrocebus patas''), also known as the hussar monkey, is a ground-dwelling monkey distributed over semi-arid areas of West Africa, and into East Africa. Taxonomy There is some confusion surrounding if there are v ...
rather than a distinct species of its own. Potential conservation actions include close monitoring of populations, working with local people to monitor groups, as well as stopping poaching, illegal livestock grazing, and keeping dogs out of protected areas. It has also been recommended that the species be added to The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates campaign. Despite the very low population and the future intensification of threats, the species may be able to recover if the threats are successfully mitigated.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q108865004 Erythrocebus Mammals of Kenya Mammals of Tanzania Mammals described in 1905 Taxa named by Paul Matschie Critically endangered fauna of Africa