The Kenya Wildlife Research and Training Institute has raised concerns over the sharp drop in numbers of the popular Tana River red colobus and the Tana River mangabey.
The institute said the numbers have dropped by more than 50 per cent in the last 40 years, mainly due to loss of habitat and human activities.
According to a report by the institute, the animals face imminent risk of extinction as a result of unprecedented degradation, land fragmentation and loss of habitat.
“Local community conservation politics and negative attitudes have impeded conservation efforts for close to three decades,” the report says.
It has the input of the Kenya Institute of Primate of Research (KIPRE), the Kenya Wildlife Service and Nature Kenya.
“Since the start of active conservation and protection of the species in early 1980, little progress has been made in their population recovery and the numbers have continued to decline,” the report says.
It notes that increased conservation awareness and outreach in the last one decade targeting the local communities have yielded positive results.
“Local communities are now for pro-conservation, which has resulted in creation of local conservancies enhancing the protection and conservation of the two primates,” the report reads.
Currently, WRTI has joined a consortium of scientists and conservationists in saving the northern white rhino from extinction.
According to the institute director Dr Patrick Omondi, they were undertaking cutting edge research to save the remaining two females in Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
He said they were working closely with Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research Berlin Germany, Zoo Dvur Kralove (ZooDK) and Laventea Lab of Italy.
“With only two female northern white rhinos remaining in the world, we have embarked on major research to save this species from extinction,” he said in the institute.
Omondi said the institute was working on various research programmes, including mapping biodiversity hotspots and identification of threats to marine species.
Other studies include species population dynamics of the endangered mountain bongo and black bhino through camera trapping and restoration of degraded areas in Aberdare.
“The research institute has made huge steps including securing seed-funding from the government to establish a comprehensive wildlife database,” he said.
