We evaluated the viability of colobus populations under conservative estimates of predation by chimpanzees. If fertility and
mortality schedules remain constant, intensely hunted red colobus populations will experience negative growth rates if one
allows the assumption of stable age structure to persist into the future. Demographic models have many advantages in studies
of primate behavior and ecology. Researchers use them to investigate the quality of observed data and to project population
growth rates to changes in mortality, fertility, and migration schedules. We used published age-specific death rates for red
colobus (
Procolobus rufomitratus tephrosceles) in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, to construct model life tables under various mortality scenarios. Selection in life-history
traits toward shorter interbirth intervals, reduction in gestation length, and increased dispersal of individuals from source
to sink populations and antipredator behavior, show a limited ability to counter the effects of intense predation. At Gombe,
where factors such as small reserve size and isolation prevail, current levels of predation by chimpanzees may depress intrinsic
growth rates low enough to cause the extirpation of red colobus in the near future.
Keywords chimpanzee - demographic modeling - predation - red colobus