Last Two Surviving Vervets from UT Austin Moves to Primarily Primates!

According to the 1998 tour guide, the vervets came from the University of Texas at Austin as part of an observational research project.  At the end of the project, the monkeys were retired to the WAO.  According to the 2001 tour guide, there were 8 members of this toop and are from the same family.  Many were born at UT at Austin. 

http://www.primarilyprimates.org/newsletter/index.html

Vervet Monkeys Arrive



Last fall, a Florida sanctuary asked Primarily Primates’ Executive Director Stephen Rene Tello to help capture 25 capuchin monkeys who were being relocated there after a San Antonio site known as Wildlife Animal Orphanage closed.

Stephen noticed two 15-year-old vervet monkeys once used in behavioral studies at the University of Austin, and offered to move them to Primarily Primates.


We asked Twitter followers (see www.twitter.com/@primate_refuge) to name the monkeys and the names selected were Pretzel and Gus. After vasectomies, the monkeys were socialized into mixed groups.  Pretzel lives with other vervet (also known as African Green) monkeys Linus and Kabuna. After an initial uproar, they’re getting along splendidly.

Gus lives with Momma Sykes, an African long-tailed monkey known as a guenon. She was once housed as a breeder at a zoo and discarded when she failed to produce babies. That’s how some animals find their way from commercial institutions to private sanctuaries.

Hmmm...no mention of Scott Lope assisting with the capture of the 25 capuchin monkeys.  What a surprise.