John Cortes

Qualitative assessment of macaque tourist sites in Padangtegal, Bali, Indonesia, and the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, Gibraltar.

Human tourists share space with, touch, feed, and otherwise interact with Macaca at multiple locations. Across Asia and stretching to Gibraltar and Northern Africa, macaques form a substantial tourist attraction as their ranges become increasingly coincident with human use zones. Residing in or as tourist attractions, macaques frequently generate economic benefits to local humans and compete with them for habitat and specific resources. In addition, health conflicts may emerge from increased overlap and interactions between humans and macaques. There is only a handful of studies on the impact, structure, context, and cultural ecology of macaque tourist sites. We provide a general overview of 2 macaque tourist sites, one in Padangtegal, Bali, Indonesia and one in Gibraltar. Qualitative assessment reveals variability in behavioral, ecological, economic, and politically relevant facets of macaque tourism. Specifically, differences in aggression during interactions, potential health dangers, economic factors, and local human perceptions between Padangtegal and Gibraltar suggest that qualitative assessments can assist in our construction of broader models and conceptualizations of the interaction context.

Intergroup variation in stable isotope ratios reflects anthropogenic impact on the Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) of Gibraltar

Interactions with humans impact many aspects of behavior and ecology in nonhuman primates. Because of the complexities of the human–nonhuman primate interface, methods are needed to quantify the effects of anthropogenic interactions, including their intensity and differential impacts between nonhuman primate groups. Stable isotopes can be used to quickly and economically assess intergroup dietary variation, and provide a framework for the development of specific hypotheses about anthropogenic impact. This study uses stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis to examine intraspecific variation in diet between five groups of Barbary macaques, Macaca sylvanus, in the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, Gibraltar. Analysis of hair from 135 macaques showed significant differences in δ13C and δ15N values between a group with minimal tourist contact and groups that were main tourist attractions. Because we observed no overt physiological or substantial behavioral differences between the groups, feeding ecology is the most likely cause of any differences in stable isotope ratios. Haphazard provisioning by tourists and Gibraltarians is a likely source of dietary variation between groups. Stable isotope analysis and observational data facilitate a deeper understanding of the feeding ecology of the Barbary macaques relevant to the role of an anthropogenic ecology for the species.

Trends in Abundance of Migrating Raptors at Gibraltar in Spring

Raptor migration has been monitored regularly at Gibraltar since the mid-1960s. Long-term trends in abundance of spring migration were investigated for the ten most frequent species, five of which changed significantly in abundance during the study period. Black Kites Milvus migrans, Eurasian Sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus and Booted Eagles Hieraaetus pennatus increased. The trends for these three species correspond with those observed elsewhere in western Europe. European Honey-buzzards Perms apivorus and Common Buzzards Buteo buteo, whose western European populations are described as stable, both decreased. For Common Buzzards at least this discrepancy appears to represent a shift in wintering distribution, possibly as a result of climate change, with populations that wintered formerly in North Africa now wintering closer to their breeding grounds.

Unique pattern of enzootic primate viruses in Gibraltar macaques.

Because Gibraltars macaques (Macaca sylvanus) have frequent contact with humans, we assayed 79 macaques for antibodies to enzootic primate viruses. All macaques were seronegative for herpesvirus B, simian T-cell lymphotropic virus, simian retrovirus, simian immunodeficiency virus, and rhesus cytomegalovirus. Seroprevalence of simian foamy virus reached 88% among adult animals.

Complete Moult of an Undescribed Resident Taxon of the Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus / Baeticatus Complex in the Smir Marshes, Northern Morocco

A complete moult north of the Sahara has never been reported conclusively in the Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus complex. During a ringing program carried out in the Smir marshes (northern Morocco) 140 adults and 292 juvenile Reed Warblers were examined during four autumns in the period 2004–2008. Of these birds, 8.9% of juveniles were either in active moult (n = 17) or had completed moult (n = 9) and 48.6% of adults were either in active moult (n = 32) or completely moulted (n = 22). At least some of the moulting birds were of local origin (i.e. Smir breeding population), since 14 males and one female were captured in autumn and later recaptured in spring showing signs of breeding activity, or captured in spring and recaptured moulting in autumn. Also, one juvenile captured in May was recaptured in November while moulting. Capture history of some moulting birds indicate that they over-winter locally and others most likely winter somewhere else in Morocco (i.e. north of the Sahara). Therefore, we report the discovery of a (partly) sedentary population of an as yet undescribed taxon of Reed Warblers in Smir marshes, Morocco. The relationship of these to the Eurasian A. scirpaceus and African A. baeticatus Reed Warblers remains to be investigated.

Survey of Treponemal Infections in Free-Ranging and Captive Macaques, 1999–2012

Survey results showed treponemal infection among pet macaques in Southeast Asia, a region with a high prevalence of human yaws. This finding, along with studies showing treponemal infection in nonhuman primates in Africa, should encourage a One Health approach to yaws eradication and surveillance activities, possibly including monitoring of nonhuman primates in yaws-endemic regions.

On regular wintering of Eurasian Penduline Tits Remiz pendulinus in northern Morocco

The Eurasian Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus was until recently considered to be an accidental winter visitor to Morocco. Regular wintering was suspected in the north-west of the country but had been poorly documented. The ringing data collected in the Smir marshes (north-west Morocco) during the period 2004–2008 indicate that Eurasian Penduline Tits regularly winter in Morocco. During the study period, 50 birds were caught on 68 occasions. The intra-seasonal recapture data, i.e. autumn to the following spring, and winter observations showed that some individuals over-wintered locally at this site. The inter-annual recapture data indicate that wintering birds return regularly to the Smir marshes.