Preliminary observations of the Mentawai macaque on Siberut Island, Indonesia

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of local people on Siberut Island (West-Sumatra, Indonesia) towards primate hunting and conservation

“…Furthermore, religious taboos generally forbade the hunting of H. klossii in former times (Mitchell & Tilson 1986), and despite the ongoing erosion of cultural tradition, it is plausible that in those places where cultural traditions are not formally observed anymore, traditional values continue to live on as customary practice. Methods of hunting were similar for all species, except for the high amount of trapping reported for macaques, a finding not entirely surprising, since it is the only primate on Siberut that habitually spends time on the ground (Whitten & Whitten 1982). More surprising, however, is that, although the use of air-rifles has increased over recent years and is now widespread, bow and poison arrows still remain the primary tool for hunting all four primate species.…”

“…Hunting has been a pressure on the local wildlife since the colonization of the archipelago several thousand years ago (Schefold 1992), and since primates were the most abundant large mammals, they became the mainstay of hunting activities (Tilson 1977;WWF 1980). In the absence of other large predators (except possibly pythons and eagles, see, Whitten & Whitten 1982, Tenaza & Tilson 1985, anthropogenic hunting has become one of the main causes of primate mortality in the region (Mitchell & Tilson 1986). …”

“…Without the cultural restraints of former times, hunting is now generally accepted as a significant influence on the distribution and abundance of Mentawai primates (Watanabe 1981;Mitchell 1985;Fuentes 2002) and for some species (e.g., Simias) it is even viewed as the single greatest threat (Whittaker 2006). Unfortunately, most of these accounts of hunting in the Mentawais are anecdotal, and where quantitative data are available, they are either limited, based on questionable methodology (i.e., counting of trophy skulls -WWF 1980; Whitten & Whitten 1982;Mitchell & Tilson 1986) or on data covering a restricted geographic area on the islands of North and South Pagai (Paciulli 2004).…”

Phylogeography of Kloss’s Gibbon (Hylobates Klossii) Populations and Implications for Conservation Planning in the Mentawai Islands

“…Each of these species currently includes two different subspecies: one subspecies in Siberut (S. concolor siberu, P. potenziani siberu, and M. pagensis siberu) and one in the three southern islands (S. c. concolor, P. p. potenziani, and M. p. pagensis). Researchers have based these classifications primarily on pelage differences, as all three Siberut populations have darker coloration (Chasen and Kloss 1927;Whitten and Whitten 1982). Recent studies of morphological differences (Kitchener and Groves 2002) and mitochondrial variation (Roos et al 2003) in Mentawai macaques suggest that the two populations are actually different species, M. pagensis in the south and M. siberu in Siberut.…”

A Preliminary Study on the Variables Correlated with the Emission of Loud Calls in Wild Moor Macaques (Macaca maurus)

“…Many authors have suggested that the function of LCs emitted by most forest primates is to mediate intergroup spacing or to rally group members in the face of group disturbance [1]. Regarding the genus Macaca, male LCs have been described for Macaca fuscata [2,3], Macaca silenus [4,5], Macaca nemestrina pagensis [6], Macaca fascicularis [7], Macaca fascicularis fusca [8] and Sulawesi macaques (Macaca maurus [9,10]; Macaca tonkeana [11]). …”