In an upcoming BBC 1 TV broadcast, a primatologist, writer and camera man, team up and take to the heights of Gabon’s rainforest in a bid to study the little-known Mangabey monkeys.

Living with Monkeys-Tales from the Treetops

Primatologist Dr Julie Anderson, writer and adventurer Guy Grieve, and cameraman Gavin Thurston have been involved in a 5 week endeavour characterised by living in a tree house up in the thick rainforests of Gabon. In the trees and away from the diverse and unpredictable wildlife that roams the rainforest floor below, the team locates the main feeding zone of a group of red-capped Mangabey monkeys and captures never before seen footage of these primates sleeping in the wild.

“We’ve been at this for weeks… finally, I’ve got mangabeys right above my head, totally relaxed.”
says Dr Julie Anderson.

The red-capped Mangabey also known as the collared or cherry-crowned mangabey, is a highly elusive species of primate that are mostly located in the rainforests of west central Africa-from western Nigeria through Cameroon and Gabon. Not much is known about these monkeys and a study of their behaviour in the wild is even more dire as their populations are threatened by habitat loss from deforestation and other agro-industrial activities.

Living with monkeys-Tales form the Treetops will air on June 9th and 10th on BBC. Details on exact airtime are still to be released.