Capture, immobilization, and Global Positioning System collaring of olive baboons (Papio anubis) and vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus): Lessons learned and suggested best practices

Abstract

As the value of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology in addressing primatological questions becomes more obvious, more studies will include capturing and collaring primates, with concomitant increased risk of adverse consequences to primate subjects. Here we detail our experiences in capturing, immobilizing, and placing GPS collars on six olive baboons (Papio anubis) in four groups and 12 vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) in five groups in Kenya. We captured baboons with cage traps and vervets with box traps, immobilized them, and attached GPS collars that were to be worn for 1 year. Adverse consequences from the trapping effort included incidental death of two nonsubjects (an adult female and her dependent infant), temporary rectal prolapse in one baboon, superficial wounds on the crown of the head in two vervets, and failure to recapture/remove collars from two baboons and two vervets. Obvious negative effects from wearing collars were limited to abrasions around the neck of one vervet. A possible, and if so, serious, adverse effect was greater mortality for collared adult female vervets compared with known uncollared adult female vervets, largely due to leopard (Panthera pardus) predation.Collared animals could be more vulnerable to predation because trapping favors bolder individuals, who may also be more vulnerable to predation, or because collars could slow them down or make them more noticeable to predators. Along with recommendations made by others, we suggest that future studies diversify trapping bait to minimize the risk of rectal prolapse, avoid capturing the first individuals to enter traps, test the movement speeds of collared versus noncollared animals, include a release system on the collars to avoid retrapping failure, and publish both positive and negative effects of capturing, immobilizing, and collaring.

The Infertility Trap: The Fertility Costs of Group-Living in Mammalian Social Evolution

“…Infanticide can probably be discounted because the burden of the evidence clearly points to living in groups as an increased, rather than decreased, risk factor for infanticide (Opie et al, 2017). In fact, the single most important driver for increasing group size in mammals, birds and fish is probably predation risk (van Schaik, 1983;Cowlishaw, 1994;Molvar and Bowyer, 1994;Shultz et al, 2004;Creel et al, 2007;Adamczak and Dunbar, 2008;Shultz and Finlayson, 2010;Kelley et al, 2011). Most animals minimise predation risk by passive defence (bunching or grouping), and very rarely, if ever, by the much riskier strategy of active defence (engaging with a predator).…”

Review of GPS collar deployments and performance on nonhuman primates

“…Due to the relatively novel use of this technology, systematic studies on these variables have not yet been published. We encourage the explicit consideration and investigation of these factors in future primate telemetry work (Hopkins and Milton 2016;Klegarth et al In press;Isbell et al 2019). In at least one instance, collared monkeys became more recognizable within the local community and were targeted by individuals disgruntled with having to share the environment with monkeys.…”

“…Many investigations of primate behavior now feature the use of GPS technology (e.g. Ren et al 2008;Humle et al 2011;Parga 2011;Klegarth et al 2017a,b;Koch et al 2016;Springer et al 2016;Springer et al 2017), yet the focus of these studies is rarely on the functionality of the devices themselves (but see Sprague et al 2004;Pebsworth et al 2012a;Kenyon et al 2015;Isbell et al 2019). This leaves primatologists without reliable guidance related to choosing the appropriate device, overall device performance, and the benefits and drawbacks of different devices with regard to data collection, collar and data retrieval, collar refurbishment, and animal welfare.…”

Influence of rainfall on sleeping site choice by a group of anubis baboons (Papio anubis)

“…As the females weighed 9.5 and 12.3 kg, both collars were 3.6%–4.7% of the animals’ body mass, within the American Society of Mammalogists’ guidelines of a maximum of 5%–10% of body mass (Sikes & the Animal Care and Use Committee of the American Society of Mammalogists, 2016). See Isbell et al (2019) for more details. In 2016, the procedures were similar.…”