Jabang Nurdin

Status of urban populations of the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) in West Sumatra, Indonesia

We studied long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) populations in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, focusing on the effect of human provisioning on their demography and dietary composition. We conducted a field survey at three sites in the city: Gunung Meru, Gunung Padang, and Gunung Panggilun. Mean troop size (range 28–68) and infant ratio (range 0.38–1.00) were greater in Gunung Meru, where the macaques have been highly provisioned, than at the other two study sites (troop size 10–15; infant ratio 0.00–0.33). The macaques at all sites consumed both natural and human foods, but dependence on the latter differed among sites: three-quarters of the diet of macaques in Gunung Meru consisted of human foods, while human foods comprised less than 5% of the macaque diet at the other sites. The ability of macaques to modify the proportion of human food is a behavioral flexibility that facilitates the survival of the long-tailed macaque in urban habitats. Without restrictions on provisioning, the degree of dependence of macaques on human foods and population size could increase, especially in Gunung Meru, and human–macaque conflict could escalate. In order to create an effective management policy for urbanized monkeys, long-term quantitative data on macaque behavior and monitoring of population parameters are required.

Effect of Provisioning on the Temporal Variation in the Activity Budget of Urban Long-Tailed Macaques ( Macaca fascicularis ) in West Sumatra, Indonesia

We studied the behavioral ecology of provisioned long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, to examine how temporal changes in food provisioning within a day affect macaque activity. We conducted a field survey from October 2015 to January 2016 at two different sites: Gunung Meru (GM) and Gunung Padang (GP), where macaques receive high and low provisioning, respectively. The time budgets of macaques significantly differed between study groups. At GM, macaques spent more time resting, feeding, acting out agonistic behaviors, and less time moving and searching for food, than the macaques at GP. Diurnal activity patterns significantly changed within a day. The short-term change in activity of the macaques was closely related to the number of tourists: they spent a greater time feeding and searching when more tourists came to feed the monkeys, while time for grooming decreased. Our result showed that the ability of the macaques to adjust their activity in response to the number of tourists (that is, provisioning patterns) indicated their behavioral flexibility. Our result may aid the management strategies to reduce human-macaque conflicts, which has become a major problem in Padang.