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Life History of Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni in the Kakamega Forest, Kenya

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Abstract

Comparative data from wild populations are necessary to understand the evolution of primate life history strategies. We present demographic data from a 29-yr longitudinal study of 8 groups of individually recognized wild blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni). We provide estimates of life history variables and a life table for females. Most females had their first infant at 7 yr. The mean interbirth interval was 28 mo, and decreased from 31 to 18 mo if the first infant died within a year. Interbirth intervals did not differ according to infant sex, but females had longer intervals after their first vs. subsequent births. Infant mortality was 23% and did not differ strongly by sex or mother’s parity. Maximal female lifespan was 32.5–34.5 yr. Across the lifespan, both survivorship and fecundity showed typical primate patterns. Survivorship was lowest in infants, leveled off among juveniles, and then decreased gradually with increasing age in later life. Fecundity was highest among young females and decreased among older females. Births were seasonal, with 64% occurring within 3 mo at the end of the dry season and beginning of the wet season. Survival to 12 mo was higher for infants born during drier months. Birth season timing is plausibly related to thermoregulation of infants, weanling foods, or maternal energy demand. Blue monkeys are a forest-dependent species with a very slow life history and relatively low immature and adult mortality rates compared to closely related guenons living in open habitats. Even among cercopithecines as a whole, they appear to have an exceptionally slow life history relative to body size. Differences in life history “speed” between blue monkeys and their close relatives seem to be related to lower juvenile and adult mortality in forests relative to more open habitats.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Government of Kenya (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and Office of the President) for permission to study the Kakamega monkeys; the University of Nairobi Zoology Department, Moi University Department of Wildlife Management, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology Department of Biological Sciences, and the Institute for Primate Research (National Museums of Kenya) for local sponsorship; and the foresters and local staff of the Kakamega Forest Station for their cooperation over many years. Funding was provided by the National Science (NSF-GF, SBR 95-23623, BCS 98-08273, BCS 05-54747), Rockefeller, Leakey, Wenner-Gren, and H. F. Guggenheim Foundations; AAAS-WISC; the University of California Research Expeditions Program; and Columbia University. We deeply appreciate the work of many field assistants, students, and colleagues who helped to collect parts of the data reported, and especially those long-termers P. Akelo, M. Atamba, S. Brace, N. Cohen, S. Förster, A. Fulghum, M. Gathua, J. Glick, J. Kirika, K. MacLean, S. Maisonneuve, C. Makalasia, C. Mitchell, N. Mitchell, S. Mugatha, C. Oduor, C. Okoyo, J. Omondi, B. Pav, K. Pazol, A. Piel, S. Roberts, T. Rowell, E. Shikanga, and E. Widava. We also thank N. Fahrwig and S. Förster for sharing their phenology data. Finally, we thank the editor and reviewers for comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Marina Cords & Shahrina Chowdhury

  2. New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA

    Marina Cords & Shahrina Chowdhury

  3. Department of Anthropology, City University of New York Graduate Center, New York, NY, 10016-4309, USA

    Shahrina Chowdhury

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  1. Marina Cords
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Correspondence to Marina Cords.

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Cords, M., Chowdhury, S. Life History of Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni in the Kakamega Forest, Kenya. Int J Primatol 31, 433–455 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-010-9405-7

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