Provisioning and the study of free-ranging primates: History, effects, and prospects

Abstract

Since the first field primate studies there has been debate over whether or not provisioning as an aid to observation of free-ranging groups alters behavior and population processes t o the extent that those studies are not indicative of the animals' natural lives. If they are not, a significant amount of long-term data on several species of primates would be rendered irrelevant to analysis of natural population processes, and to the pool of knowledge of behavior and social groups on which a picture of historical and current selection pressures is built. At present these studies cannot be used comparatively with nonprovisioned studies due to lack of information on quantities of food supplement or certainty about effects of different provisioning methods on demography and behavior.The perception that Japanese primate studies are conducted largely on provisioned groups is inaccurate. An expanding number of study populations within Japan and most overseas studies are conducted without provisioning. Historically, the reason for provisioning the endemic Japanese macaque was to facilitate observation, but it has since become also a means of conservation. Provisioning in most other instances by both Japanese and Western primatologists has been done on an ad hoc basis.Studies of supplemental feeding effects on non-primate species suggest that food supply secondarily limits population density and fecundity is not the most important factor affecting population increase.Provisioning is essential to the survival of many primate groups and provisioned groups will likely increase. Studies of natural primate ecology should be used to determine the least intrusive methods of supplementary feeding.The effects of artificial or supplemental feeding, baiting, or provisioning on the behavior and demography of free-ranging nonhuman primates have long been a concern in primatology (Altmann and Altmann, 1979;Carpenter, 1969;Fa, 1986; Fa and Southwick, 1988;Frisch, 1959Frisch, ,1963Fukuda, 1988;Goodall, 1983;Imanishi, 1965;Itani, 1975;Izawa, 1982;Lawick-Goodall, 1971;Maruhashi et al., 1986;Mori, 1977Mori, ,1979Nishida, 1979; Power, 1986, in prep.;Reynolds, 1975;Southwick et al., 1976;Sugiyama and Ohsawa, 1982;Wrangham, 1974, and in passim in numerous research publications). Provisioning' in a general sense refers to the 'The terms "provisioning" and "provisionization" were formerly distinguished. During the first decade of artificial feeding by Japanese, the term "provisionize" referred to the process of semidomestication of the Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in which the macaques accepted food in the presence of humans (Simonds, 0 1989 Alan R. Liss, Inc. [Vol. 32, 1989 offering of food beyond the natural supply and/or quality of the animals' environment (Fa, 1986). Provisioning in primate studies was begun innocuously enough on the small island Cayo Santiago, off Puerto Rico, to supplement an inadequate natural food supply for an imported colony of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) (Carpenter, 1942) and in Japan and East...

Opportunistic mothers: female marmosets (Callithrix kuhlii) reduce their investment in offspring when they have to, and when they can

“…A second pattern of early weaning was associated with high resource availability and good maternal condition. Comparisons of provisioned and non-provisioned populations have revealed that provisioned females exhibit shorter interbirth intervals and lactational periods, live longer, and exhibit higher infant survival rates than non-provisioned conspecifics (see reviews in Paul and Kuester, 1988;Asquith, 1989;Hendrickx and Dukelow, 1995). Additionally, there are reports that females with access to higher quality (but nonprovisioned) diets (e.g., vervet monkeys: Hauser and Fairbanks, 1988) and those with high dominance rank (e.g., yellow baboons, Papio hamadryas cynocephalus: Altmann and Samuels, 1992) invest less time and energy in offspring than females in relatively moderate condition and/or access to resources of moderate quality.…”

Effect of Provisioning on the Temporal Variation in the Activity Budget of Urban Long-Tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in West Sumatra, Indonesia

“…Many primates close to humans systematically consume anthropogenic foods including garbage, offerings, and food provisioned by local people and tourists [Asquith, 1989;Wheatley et al, 1996;Fuentes et al, 2011;Malaivijitnond et al, 2011;Aggimarangsee, 2013]. The inclusion of human food in the diet can have significant effects on activity budgets [Brennan et al, 1985;Fa, 1986;Altmann and Muruthi, 1988;O'Leary and Fa, 1993;Saj et al, 1999;Sha and Hanya, 2013a].…”

Effects of Tourists on Barbary Macaques at Gibraltar

“…Such studies can suggest ways of recon ciling conservation and control of the ani mals. Habituation of primates by regular pro visioning or food handouts can have major effects on ecology and behaviour [4,5]. It can also affect human perceptions of and behav iours towards the primates concerned [6],…”