Peng Zhang, Kunio Watanabe (Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University)
Extra large clusters and their social structure of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in the Shodoshima Island, Central Japan
Japanese macaques usually formed small clusters in winter, which mostly composed by their close kin. Monkeys in Shodoshima Island, however, frequently formed extra large clusters (more than fifty individuals huddling) during winter and occasionally during summer. Mean cluster sizes of Shodoshima monkeys were 3.4¡Þ 4.9 and 3.8¡Þ5.4 in summer and it escalated to 17.1 ¡Þ 18 and 15.9 ¡Þ20.5 for SA and SB groups respectively in winter. The largest sizes reached to 85¡Þ 15.7 and 65.7¡Þ18.2 at mean temperature of 9oC. These extra large clusters in Shodoshima groups were mostly composed by adult females and juveniles, as well as one or several adult males. Shodoshima is a relatively warm habitat for Japanese monkeys. Formation of extra large clusters indicates an extreme example of tolerance among unrelated Japanese monkeys. Compared with those of monkeys in Takasakiyama, social behaviours of monkeys in Shodoshima have following characters, tolerant relations, frequently affinitive interactions, short inter individual distance, less kin bias, frequent aggressions, less intensive aggressions and frequent counter aggressions. These characters suggested loosed dominant relations in Shodoshima groups. Likely because of their loosed dominant relations, unrelated monkeys huddle together more often and easily formed larger clusters to cope with cold. Inter-group comparisons in this study suggested dominant relationships of Japanese macaques might have wide variations, some are despotic, others tend to be are ¡Ætolerant despotic¡Ç, such as in Shodoshima groups.
Nutritional condition of females and population dynamics in provisioned, free-ranging Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata, at Takasakiyama
A population of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) at Takasakiyama, Oita Prefecture, south Japan, has been studied for a half-century. The first census was conducted in 1950, and 166 + ¦Á monkeys were counted in a single troop. In 1952, provisioning started and Takasakiyama Natural Zoo opened in 1953. Annual census started in 1970. The population grew by 6.9 times during 22 years from 1953 to 1975 when food was given at 618 Kcal/day/animal on average, meanwhile it fissioned into 3 troops. To control the population growth, provisioning decreased to 334 Kcal/day/animal after 1975. The population grew only 1.2 times for 19 years until 1994, though capture of separated monkeys at outside of the home-range as agricultural pest might have effected on the decrease of growth-rate. As a consequence of decreasing artificial food, body mass of 5 and more year females decreased, primiparous age of females increased, and birth rate of 5 and more year females decreased. And then, body mass of infants decreased. In 1979 total size of 3 troops reached 2000 in a range of 300 ha. In 2001, Troops A, B, and C consist of 773, 449 and 660 animals respectively.
Crop damage by a wild Japanese macaque troop and damage management in the northern area of Mt. Fuji, Japan
The goal of this study was to examine current crop damage by Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), and evaluate the control methods employed. We found that the frequency of crop damage was highest during the winter, followed by summer, autumn, and spring. Japanese macaques primarily fed on leaf and stem vegetables during winter and spring; mainly fruit vegetables during summer; and mostly fruits in autumn. During winter, the distance between the forest edge and farmland areas suffering crop damage increased, and the maximum distance recorded was 180 m. Japanese macaques also repeatedly fed on both unharvested crops and garbage during winter. These observations suggest low food availability in the interior forest habitat; thus, to reduce crop damage during winter, food availability in the forest habitat must be augmented. Moreover, to reduce crop damage in farmland, it is necessary to properly dispose of raw garbage, as well as the residues, and it is critical to educate the local communities. There was no management strategy in place to deal with crop damage in most of the areas in which damage was observed. Damage prevention was exercised at only three sites (0.7%), where walls were constructed to keep macaques away from the crops. However, of the 47 days in which the macaques were observed in residential areas or the surrounding farmland, this artificial exclusion method was employed on only 18 days (38.3%), and the average number of people who participated in this artificial exclusion management procedure was only 1.61 per event. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a cooperative management system that includes the participation of women from local communities to reduce crop damage because the current method of artificially excluding macaques from villages and farmlands is ineffective.
Analysis of factors influencing the effectiveness of fences Cause - effect deduction by path analysis
Fencing has often been used to prevent wild animals from causing agricultural damages. Fences used commonly can be classified into two categories: simple temporary ones and durable fixed ones. Although one can expect that durable fences are more effective than simple fences, it has frequently been reported that the effectiveness of durable fences is not as high as expected. We analyzed a series of factors by path analysis to determine which factors influence the effectiveness of fences. We classified factors possibly affecting the effectiveness into two categories: characteristics of routes or points that animals use to raid into crop fields (direct factor), and human factors related to these routes or points (indirect factor). The analysis showed that fence height, unscreened channels, and crevices under fences unfixed at the ground influenced the effectiveness significantly as direct factor. The analysis also indicated that the lack of maintenance, experts¡Ç advice, expenses as beneficiary, and the rate of subsistence farming affected direct factors as indirect factors. These results suggest that we should pay more attention to these indirect factors in order to make fences more effective for reducing crop damages caused by wild animals.