The Hand That Feeds the Monkey: Mutual Influence of Humans and Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) in the Context of Provisioning

Evidence-based legislation, strong institutions and consensus needed to mitigate the negative impacts of free-ranging dogs

Dogs bring many benefits to our society but, if not properly managed, they can be detrimental for humans, livestock and wildlife. We highlight the increasing problems associated with free-ranging dogs using examples from two regions of the world where this issue is pervasive, India and South America. In these regions, free-ranging dogs spread diseases, injure people, harm biodiversity, and negatively impact human livelihoods. We discuss why mitigating these deleterious effects can be extremely complicated because there are diverse challenges such as: (a) a lack of or inappropriate legislations concerning free-ranging dog management and human-dog interactions, (b) unregulated intentional and unintentional feeding of free-ranging dogs, (c) limitations of animal shelters, (d) non-responsible ownership, and (e) uncontrolled dog populations. As the management of animal species is usually shaped by differing interests, existing policies and regulations, views and social influence of stakeholders, power asymmetries between interested parties is yet another challenge in this regard. We need evidence-based legislations and strong institutions (e.g., public health and conservation institutions) that are capable of implementing governance principles and managing the complexities of this socio-ecological system by taking science-based decisions, and balancing power asymmetries to promote consensus.

Feeding ecology of free-ranging long-tailed macaques in East Java, Indonesia: Relationship with human food availability

Food availability is an important factor affecting the feeding strategies of animals. Primate species living in habitats with high human activity have the potential to employ unique strategies to utilize human food resources. This study describes the feeding ecology of provisioned free-ranging long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) inhabiting Alas Purwo National Park, East Java, Indonesia. The activity budgets, dietary compositions, vertical usage, and ranging patterns of macaques were recorded between October 2021 and March 2022, and their relationships with the number of visitors (a proxy of human food availability) were examined. The macaques consumed more human food (mean ± SD: 53.9 ± 25.6%) than natural food (43.8 ± 25.5%), followed by unidentified food (2.3 ± 6.3%). Human food has several effects on the behavioral ecology of macaques, including reduced movement and increased social activity in response to the number of visitors, decreased consumption of natural food, frequent use of the ground and subcanopy strata, and decreased home range when the number of visitors increases. Thus, the relative importance of human food has substantially changed the essential behavioral ecology of provisioned macaque troops. Understanding the behavioral plasticity of macaques, particularly their responses to anthropogenic effects, could guide and contribute to the formulation of conservation policies and management plans.

Use of Space by black-and-gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in an urban environment in Paraguay

As urbanisation continues to reduce the available habitat for wildlife, some species, including the black-and-gold howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) in Pilar, southwest Paraguay, are making their homes in anthropogenic environments. Understanding an animal’s home range is an important step to understanding its ecological needs, and an essential requirement for the creation of robust conservation plans. In this study, we determined the home ranges and core areas of five groups of urban dwelling A. caraya using Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) Analysis. We used a Spearman’s Correlation to explore the relationship between home range size and group size. All five groups had home ranges of less than 10 ha and used core areas of less than 1 ha. Group size had no significant relationship to home range size. We provide the first estimates of home range for A. caraya in an urban environment in Paraguay. Though the home ranges of the urban A. caraya in Pilar, Paraguay fall at the smaller end of the spectrum of range sizes in Alouatta, they are not abnormal for a species in this genus.

The natural history of model organisms: the rhesus macaque as a success story of the Anthropocene

Of all the non-human primate species studied by researchers, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is likely the most widely used across biological disciplines. Rhesus macaques have thrived during the Anthropocene and now have the largest natural range of any non-human primate. They are highly social, exhibit marked genetic diversity, and display remarkable niche flexibility (which allows them to live in a range of habitats and survive on a variety of diets). These characteristics mean that rhesus macaques are well-suited for understanding the links between sociality, health and fitness, and also for investigating intra-specific variation, adaptation and other topics in evolutionary ecology.

Factors affecting the crop raiding behavior of wild rhesus macaques in Nepal: Implications for wildlife management

In many areas of South Asia and Southeast Asia, macaques inhabiting agricultural landscapes are considered serious crop pests by local farmers. In Nepal, for example, the expansion of monocultures, increased forest fragmentation, the degradation of natural habitats, and changing agricultural practices have led to a significant increase in the frequency of human-macaque conflict. In order to more fully understand the set of factors that contribute to macaque crop raiding, and the set of preventive measures that can be put in place to avoid human-macaque conflict, we examined patterns of crop raiding by a group of 52 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in the Kavrepalanchok district, Nepal. We present data on macaque inflicted crop damage in 172 agricultural plots (each plot measuring 380 m²) from August to October 2019. Our results indicate that farmland invasions by macaques were principally affected by crop type (maize was preferred over rice), nearness of farmland to both the forest edge and the major travel route used by the macaques, and the mitigation efforts applied by farmers to discourage crop raiding. We found that as the proportion of maize farmland in the most direct path from the macaque's main travel route to nearby crop raiding sites increased, the amount of maize damage decreased. This is likely explained by the fact that macaques traveling across several adjacent maize fields encounter multiple farmers protecting their crops. We estimated that the financial cost to individual farmer households of macaque maize and rice raiding was on average US$ 14.9 or 4.2% of their annual income from cultivating those two crops. As human-macaque conflict is one of the most critical challenges faced by wildlife managers in South Asia and Southeast Asia, studies of macaque crop raiding behavior provide an important starting point for developing effective strategies to manage human-macaque conflict while promoting both primate conservation and the economic well-being of the local community.

Why do people visit primate tourism sites? Investigating macaque tourism in Japan and Indonesia

Primates are popular species in wildlife tourism contexts and provide economic benefits to habitat countries where primate-based tourism activities are a part of the country's tourism economy. Primate tourism runs a broad gamut from safari-like expeditions within remote primate habitats to designated monkey parks and incidental primate tourism. In most forms of primate tourism, primate ecology and behaviour are directly influenced by humans, making these interfaces particularly relevant for examination using the lens of ethnoprimatology. While several studies have assessed the impact of tourism on primates, little is known about people's motivations for observing monkeys for recreational purposes. Here we present two case studies-the Jigokudani Monkey Park, Japan, and the Telaga Warna Nature Recreational Park, Indonesia-where we provide quantitative assessments of people's motivations for visiting managed (monkey parks) and unmanaged (incidental) monkey tourism sites. We further show that management regimes, socio-demographic attributes, previous experience of interactions with macaques, and feeding them play a role in people's desire to visit macaque tourism sites. In Japan, those who had interacted with macaques before were more likely to visit the park to observe macaques clearly and at close quarters. In contrast, respondents in Indonesia were more interested in the recreational opportunities offered by the nature reserve rather than in macaques. However, here too, people who had interacted with macaques earlier were more likely to visit incidental macaque tourist sites for the sole purpose of viewing or interacting with macaques. Almost 50% of the Japanese respondents visited the monkey park due to personal inclinations, while less than 14% of people in Indonesia visited the park of their own volition. Also, over 57% of the Japanese respondents said that visiting monkey parks helped them gain a better understanding of macaque behaviour, whereas only about 26% respondents said likewise in Indonesia. Unlike the Japanese respondents, most of the Indonesian respondents engaged in feeding macaques. These findings suggest that management regimes as well as socio-demographic attributes may influence people's motivations to visit macaque tourism sites.

The Escalating Effects of Wildlife Tourism on Human-Wildlife Conflict

Simple Summary

Communities adjacent to protected areas usually face conflict with protected wildlife. Wildlife tourism is regarded as a tool to mitigate such conflict through bringing economic benefits to villagers and then increasing villagers’ tolerance of wildlife. We used qualitative methods to conduct a case study on a macaque tourism attraction in China and find that tourism may escalate rather than mitigate community–wildlife conflict. Provisioning food is a common way to attract wild animals to visit and stay in human activity areas. In the case of macaque tourism, anthropogenic food provision caused rapid population increase and more intra-group aggressive behaviors. More tourist–macaque interactions resulted in macaques becoming habituated to human’s presence. These ecological impacts on macaques led more invasion to the surrounding community and intensified resident–macaque conflict. Meanwhile, low community participation in tourism generated few benefits for residents and did not help alter residents’ hostile attitudes towards the macaques. Local residents gradually retreated from agriculture as the macaques became more intrusive. We propose a holistic model combining social and ecological perspectives to evaluate the role of wildlife tourism in resolving community–wildlife conflict. We suggest that wildlife tourism should minimize human–wildlife intimate interactions and food provision.

Abstract

Human–wildlife conflict is a barrier to achieving sustainable biodiversity conservation and community development in protected areas. Tourism is often regarded as a tool to mitigate such conflict. However, existing studies have mainly adopted a socio-economic perspective to examine the benefits of tourism for communities, neglecting the ecological effects of tourism. This case study of macaque tourism on a peninsula in China illustrates that tourism can escalate rather than mitigate human–wildlife conflict. Fifty-three stakeholders were interviewed and secondary data were collected to understand the development of rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) tourism and community–macaque conflict. The results show that food provision and tourist–macaque interactions rapidly increased the macaques’ population, habituation, and aggressive behaviors, which led them to invade the surrounding community more often and exacerbated human–macaque conflict. Meanwhile, low community participation in tourism generated few benefits for residents and did not help alter residents’ hostile attitudes towards the macaques. Local residents gradually retreated from agriculture as the macaques became more intrusive. A holistic approach to evaluating the role of wildlife tourism in resolving community–wildlife conflict is proposed and practical suggestions for alleviating such conflict are given.

Roadside monkeys: anthropogenic effects on moor macaque (Macaca maura) ranging behavior in Bantimurung Bulusaraung National Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia

A growing body of research focuses on how anthropogenic factors affect the behavior and ecology of primates and their ecosystems. Infrastructural development, such as roads, is an increasingly pervasive anthropogenic impact that destroys primate habitat, affects the distribution and dispersal of primates, and facilitates human-primate interactions. At our field site in Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia, a major road bisects the habitat of the endangered moor macaque (Macaca maura). Beginning in 2015, we observed a behavioral shift by our main study group: they began spending more time along the road foraging in trash pits and waiting for provisions from vehicles. Our objective in this study was to examine how access to anthropogenic foods has affected the group's ranging behavior by comparing ranging data collected before (2010-2011) and after the shift (2016-2017). In contrast to what we expected, home ranges were significantly larger and daily travel distance was significantly longer after the shift compared to before. As predicted, mean distance to the road decreased after the shift. These results likely reflect the irregular and spatially dispersed nature of provisioning at this site. The macaques appear to be attracted to the road because it presents opportunities to obtain palatable and energy-dense foods. Our results indicate that moor macaques are able to flexibly adjust their ranging behavior in response to anthropogenic impacts. However, given the risks of being in proximity to roads and humans, management of this emerging human-macaque interface is needed.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mammals at tourism destinations: a systematic review

The COVID‐19 outbreak is having an unprecedented effect on human society, but how is it affecting the mammals that people live with? Mammals that were part of tourism experiences are of concern, because they impact on people’s health and livelihoods and, since many of them are now dependent on people, we urge consideration of the status of these mammals as a result of the pandemic.

We provide a systematic review of the impacts the COVID‐19 outbreak has had on mammals in tourism venues. We examine reports of diverse species in various settings responding to changes in their environments that are occurring because of the pandemic.

We searched the scholarly literature, preprints, and online news sources using combinations of the search terms ‘tourism’, ‘animals’, ‘wildlife’, ‘coronavirus’, and ‘COVID‐19’. We searched Web of Science, SCOPUS, EBSCOHost, JSTOR, bioRxiv, OSFPREPRINTS, GDELT, Google News, and National Public Radio, and analysed a total of 39 news articles, one peer‐reviewed article, and six preprints.

In total, we identified 92 distinct animal reports representing 48 mammal species. We used an existing tourism classification schema to categorise each article based on the situation reported, with the new addition of one context. We classified 92 separate animal reports in 46 articles into four (of six possible) contexts: mammals as attractions (n = 40 animal reports), mammals as commodities (n = 33), mammals as threats (n = 2), and unusual sightings of mammals (n = 17). Shortage of food, in danger of losing home, having an enriched/relaxed environment, spatial expansion, disease transmission, and poaching are the major impacts or events reported in these contexts.

We suggest changes for each context with respect to how people interface with mammals, with the goal of improving the lives of mammals and the people dependent on them.

Individuals in urban dwelling primate species face unequal benefits associated with living in an anthropogenic environment

In primates, living in an anthropogenic environment can significantly improve an individual's fitness, which is likely attributed to access to anthropogenic food resources. However, in non-professionally provisioned groups, few studies have examined whether individual attributes, such as dominance rank and sex, affect primates' ability to access anthropogenic food. Here, we investigated whether rank and sex explain individual differences in the proportion of anthropogenic food consumed by macaques. We observed 319 individuals living in nine urban groups across three macaque species. We used proportion of anthropogenic food in the diet as a proxy of access to those food resources. Males and high-ranking individuals in both sexes had significantly higher proportions of anthropogenic food in their diets than other individuals. We speculate that unequal access to anthropogenic food resources further increases within-group competition, and may limit fitness benefits in an anthropogenic environment to certain individuals.