Short Communication: Previously Unreported Human−primate Conflict in Kalisalak Forest, Central Java-Indonesia

Abstract

We found the phenomenon of human−primate conflict (HPC) in the Kalisalak Forest, Central Java, Indonesia. This location is also known locally as the research site of the Kalisalak Study Site or Kalisalak Grand Forest Park (KGFP) and is used for religious activities by local ethnicities. The research site is used for pilgrimages every Suro Month in the Islamic calendar. Based on the history adopted from the local people, the macaques already existed in the colonial period of the Dutch East Indies. We interviewed "caretakers", mentioning that there are about 75 to 100 long-tailed macaques, but an unusual phenomenon occurs in HPC. According to local people, this conflict is in the form of crop-raiding, expressing agonistic behaviour such as grimacing and chasing visitors. However, when we repeated observations for one month, there was no conflict between long-tailed macaques and humans. The recorded population is still one large group. Besides, to conserve long-tailed macaques and minimize the incidence of HPC, further research is needed to be related to the management of primates by considering the location of the grand forest park type as well as secondary forest types, with the main commodity of the community being forest products.

Daily Behaviour of Long-tailed Macaque in the Captive, Semi-wild, and Wild Habitats: Preliminary Reports

“…The social group of LTM is female-bonded, meaning that the males will be out of the group at puberty. Thus, the interrelationship of groups seems to be lower than matrilineal (van Noordwijk and van Schaik 1987). More differences in interrelationships occur when comparing high-ranking bloodlines with lower-ranked, with higher-rank individuals closer in kinship to each other (van Noordwijk and van Schaik, 1999;Marc Luetjens et al 2020;Al Hakim and Nasution 2021).…”

Social Behaviour of Endangered Macaque Species at Kalisalak Forest, Central Java-Indonesia

“…Primates living in habitats near human settlements have narrower ranges [47]. Besides, the home range is also influenced by the human-primate interface and the conflict that occurs [19]. Habitats with food resource zones are more concentrated in LTM [20,41,42].…”

“…Although this site is a tourist site [17,18], visitors do not come daily or are relatively quiet, so the threat from visitors is low. The kind of human threat from visitors that influenced their agonistic behaviour includes crop raiding, expressing agonistic behaviour such as grimacing and chasing visitors [19].…”

“…LTM can be found on the beach IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1220/1/012021 2 [15], along coastlines, riverbanks, swamp forests, and forests in mountainous areas [16]. One of the LTM populations on Java Island can be found in the Kalisalak Forest (also known as Kalisalak Study Site or Makam Kramat Karangbanar) in Kalisalak Village, Kebasen District, Banyumas Regency, Central Java, Indonesia [17][18][19][20]. The LTM in this site, as well as the religious tourist park, attracts pilgrims or tourists to visit and provision [21] that shared habitat with humans (anthropogenic) and potentially found human-primate interaction as well as conflict between them [19], so the social behaviour of LTMs in that area need to be concerning.…”

“…LTM interactions consist of various social behaviours, including grooming, looking for and taking dirt in the body, and using hands or mouth with other individuals (allogrooming) [22,23]. Agonistic behaviour exhibits at least one or more aggression, including fighting, chasing, biting, expelling, avoiding pursuit, and griming (grimace) [19,[24][25][26]. Aggressive behaviour sometimes exhibits during or after a playing activity by observing facial expressions [27,28], body movements [29], vocalizations [30,31], and other reactions.…”