Nuisance behaviors of macaques in Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Palawan, Philippines

Abstract

Different nuisance behaviors of macaques have been reported in different parts of the world where humans and macaques have been living in the same habitats and sharing the same resources. In this study, nuisance behaviors of Long-tailed Macaques were documented in Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park using direct observation, survey questionnaire and by visiting the complaint section database. The attitudes and practices of the locals towards the macaques were also investigated. From the result of the study, it was observed that the most common nuisance behavior of macaques in Central Park Station was littering, while according to the locals, eating of crops was the most common nuisance behavior. There was no existing tourist complaint about the macaques in the area, however, park personnel reported that aggressive tourist-macaque encounters sometimes happened. These nuisance behaviors were observed to be linked to food security of the animals which results in negative interaction. Meanwhile, it was also observed that the practices of most people towards macaques in the area are still relatively positive despite the nuisance behaviors of the macaques. Only a small percentage of respondents hunted macaques, experienced keeping macaques as pets or experienced eating macaque meat. The direct observations revealed that the degree of human-macaque interaction in the park was relatively mild compared to the reports in other countries, partly because of the positive human attitudes towards the animals and the effective management practices in the area.

Keywords

• human-macaque interaction
• nuisance behaviors