Tana River Red Colobus, Procolobus rufomitratus

Tana River Red Colobus
Procolobus rufomitratus (Peters, 1879)
Kenya
(2002, 2004)
Protected by only a few square kilometers of riverside forest, the Tana River red colobus is now threatened by a new sugar-cane plantation — and the flood of settlers it will bring.

The gallery forests of Kenya's lower Tana River are home to two Critically Endangered primates, the Tana River red colobus and the Tana River mangabey, Cercocebus galeritus Peters, 1879. Along with six other species of primates, they inhabit small patches of forest along a 60-kilometer stretch of river, from Nkanjonja to Mitapani. While the other species of monkeys have geographically larger distributions, the red colobus and mangabey are found nowhere else.
These two species are offered some protection in approximately 13 km² of forest within the 169 km² Tana River Primate National Reserve. Forest loss to agriculture has increased greatly over the last 15 years or so, resulting in a loss of roughly 50% of the original vegetation. Local communities continue to degrade the remaining forest for products used in the construction of homes and canoes, the collection of wild honey, and the topping of palms to make palm wine. One result of this widespread loss and degradation of habitat is that the populations of the red colobus and the mangabey are believed to have each declined to fewer than 1,000 individuals.
A 5-year World Bank/GEF project begun in 1996 was originally designed to relocate several hundred families that presently live within the Reserve, but financial support was withdrawn well before completion of the project due to poor project management. This left responsibility for the protection of the Tana River's remaining forests and primates entirely to the Kenya Wildlife Service. Further losses have resulted from the failure of the Tana Delta Irrigation Project's (TDIP) rice-growing scheme (under the administration of the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority — TARDA) to protect either the habitat or the primates in the 14 Tana River forest patches under its management. This rice-growing scheme was financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Additional new threats are now on the horizon with a proposal to establish a large sugar cane plantation in the Tana Delta. This new plantation will not only result in a large influx of people to the area, it may directly destroy natural forest. On the positive side, (1) more than 250 families cultivating within the Tana River Primate National Reserve were, in 2005, voluntarily relocated to Kipini (about 90 km away), (2) there appears to be an increasing concern for forest and biodiversity conservation among the people of the Lower Tana River, and (3) a major focus of action among community based organizations over the next few decades is likely to be tree planting.
Given the current level of threat, however, it will likely take many years before there is sufficient change on the ground to reverse the long-standing decline of the Tana River red colobus and the Tana River mangabey populations.
Thomas M. Butynski

References
Butynski, T. M. and Mwangi. G. 1994. Conservation status and distribution of the Tana River red colobus and crested mangabey. Report to Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, Kenya Wildlife Service, National Museums of Kenya, Institute of Primate Research, and East African Wildlife Society, Nairobi, Kenya. 68pp.
Butynski, T. M. and Mwangi, G. 1995. Census of Kenya’s endangered red colobus and crested mangabey. African Primates 1: 8–10.
Marsh, C. W. 1985. A survey of Tana River primates. Unpublished report to the Institute of Primate Research, Nairobi, Kenya.
Wieczkowski, J., Mbora, D. N., Kariuki, A. and Strum, S. 2001. Tana River Primate and Habitat Monitoring Project. Report to Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation, Great Falls, Virginia. 13pp.

Suggested citation:
Butynski, T. M. 2005. Tana River Red Colobus, Procolobus rufomitratus (Peters, 1879). In: Primates in Peril: The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates 2004-2006, R. A. Mittermeier, C. Valladares-Pádua, A. B. Rylands, A. A. Eudey, T. M. Butynski, J. U. Ganzhorn, R. Kormos, J. M. Aguiar and S. Walker (eds.), p.17. Report to IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group (PSG), International Primatological Society (IPS) and Conservation International (CI), Washington, DC.