Exploring Local Perceptions of and Attitudes toward Endangered François’ Langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi) in a Human-Modified Habitat

Abstract

Understanding local community attitudes toward wildlife is critical for making context-sensitive conservation planning and management decisions that may facilitate better human-wildlife coexistence. We conducted questionnaire-based interviews with local households in the Qinglong village of Mayanghe National Nature Reserve (MNNR) in China from March to August 2015. We used a mixed analysis technique based on a theoretical framework of categorical variables to explain attitudes to investigate the key factors that influenced local attitudes toward Endangered François' langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi). We found that 53% (40, N = 75) of interviewees liked François' langurs presence around the village; 27% did not; and 20% were neutral. Respondents with favorable attitudes to langurs associated them mainly with tangible benefits from local tourism and their positive aesthetic and emotional values. Respondents with negative attitudes to langurs associated them with tangible costs such as crop feeding and the destruction of their houses. Over half (N = 9) of respondents with neutral attitudes associated langurs with various cost and benefit trade-offs. Overall, local people tended to have slightly negative perceptions of the langurs' impacts at the household level, while they had very positive perceptions of their impacts at the community level. Ordinal logistic regression models revealed that age, gender, and impact perceptions were significantly associated with local residents' attitudes towards the langurs at the household and community levels. We suggest that such socioeconomic monitoring efforts should be periodically conducted in protected areas like MNNR, especially in the context of rapid economic and infrastructure development.

Understanding the Dynamics of Human–Wildlife Conflicts in North-Western Pakistan: Implications for Sustainable Conservation

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Utilization Practices and Conservation Impacts of Endangered Wildlife in Asian Countries

“…Our results reveal that various categories of wildlife utilization have fairly well documented in several Asian countries, encompassing food, pet-keeping, traditional medicine, belief-based practices, trading, and ornamental use [16,17,18]. In Malaysia, the consumption of wildlife as food has a rich history spanning over centuries [19].…”

Impacts of the Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) on the Livelihood of Rural Communities in Pakistan and Understanding Public Attitudes towards Wild Boars

“…For designing robust protection and management strategies and enabling improved human–wildlife co-existence, it is very important to understand the attitudes of locals towards the wildlife of an area [ 34 ]. The results revealed that in our study area, most locals (96.43%) had negative attitudes towards the wild boar, wishing for its complete elimination from the area.…”