Monkey drive
Encyclopedia
A monkey drive is an operation where large numbers of wild monkey
s are rounded up and killed in order to protect agriculture
such as crops, planted rice
, banana
and citrus
fruit trees. Monkey drives have been reported in Sierra Leone
, where they were supported by the government.
In 1965, Gerald Durrell
organised a monkey drive in Sierra Leone
during a collecting mission for Jersey Zoo. The monkey drive was out of season, and not to exterminate monkeys, but in order to capture colobus monkeys. In his book on the expedition, published in 1972, he wrote that 2000 to 3000 monkeys are killed in monkey drives in Sierra Leone each year, including the "two species" of colobus monkeys, which do no damage to cocoa plantations, and were theoretically protected by law. The species mentioned by Durrell are now considered genera
: black-and-white colobus
and red-and-black colobus
.
Monkey
A monkey is a primate, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys...
s are rounded up and killed in order to protect agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
such as crops, planted rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
and citrus
Citrus
Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
fruit trees. Monkey drives have been reported in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
, where they were supported by the government.
In 1965, Gerald Durrell
Gerald Durrell
Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell, OBE was a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter...
organised a monkey drive in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
during a collecting mission for Jersey Zoo. The monkey drive was out of season, and not to exterminate monkeys, but in order to capture colobus monkeys. In his book on the expedition, published in 1972, he wrote that 2000 to 3000 monkeys are killed in monkey drives in Sierra Leone each year, including the "two species" of colobus monkeys, which do no damage to cocoa plantations, and were theoretically protected by law. The species mentioned by Durrell are now considered genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
: black-and-white colobus
Black-and-white colobus
Black-and-white colobuses are Old World monkeys of the genus Colobus, native to Africa. They are closely related to the brown colobus monkeys of genus Piliocolobus. The word "colobus" comes from Greek κολοβός kolobós , and is so named because its thumb is a stump.Colobuses are herbivorous, eating...
and red-and-black colobus
Red colobus
Red colobuses are Old World monkeys of the subgenus Piliocolobus in genus Procolobus. Some authors elevate Piliocolobus to a full genus, limiting Procolobus to the olive colobus. They are closely related to the black-and-white colobus monkeys and some species are often found in groups with the...
.