Social taboos have been increasingly recognized for their role in determining human behaviour. Such informal institutions may also, in some instances, guide practices that serve as effective conservation measures. Here we present a case in Banten, Indonesia, where a local taboo has discouraged the collection of two herpetofaunal species, the water monitor lizard Varanus salvator and the reticulated python Python reticulatus, on Tinjil Island, an undeveloped island off the coast of Java. The taboo is not observed in the nearby mainland villages of Muara Dua and Cisiih, where the two species may be harvested for skin or meat, and where the water monitor may also be killed as a pest. Water monitors and reticulated pythons figure prominently in the international reptile leather trade, with skins produced from Indonesia's wild populations representing the highest percentage of total global exports of both lizard and snake skins. The site-specific taboo documented here provides a strong deterrent to collection of these species in a location where they could be subject to illicit harvest as populations in nearby mainland areas decrease. Preliminary evidence also suggests that belief in forest guardian spirits may extend protection to other wildlife species on Tinjil Island.

Throughout the world, population growth and conversion of land for human development increase the potential for areas of human and wildlife activity to overlap. Anthropogenic effects on animal behavior may have ecological consequences if response to human disturbance or dependence on anthropogenic food sources prevents wildlife from carrying out traditional ecological roles. The presence of large predatory species such as the water monitor lizard, Varanus salvator, in areas of human development may also result in conflict if animals become habituated to the presence of humans or begin to compete for resources. Understanding anthropogenic effects on V. salvator resource use and activity is a key to predicting behavior and informing conflict mitigation in systems where humans and V. salvator coexist. V. salvator home ranges and resource use will be investigated on Tinjil Island, Indonesia, where radiotelemetry will be used to track V. salvator individuals across areas of varying human presence in both wet and dry seasons. Greater insight into anthropogenic influences on V. salvator resource use will contribute increased knowledge of V. salvator's ecological role in undisturbed and human-altered communities and can serve to inform the prevention of human-V. salvator conflict.Key words: monitor lizard, Varanus, radiotelemetry, resource use, home range, resource utilization function RÉSUMÉPartout dans le monde, la croissance de la population et la conversion des terres pour le développement humain ont accentué le risque de chevauchement entre les activités humaines et celles de la faune. Les effets anthropogéniques sur le comportement animal peuvent avoir des impacts écologiques si les réactions aux perturbations humaines ou la dépen-dance envers des sources anthropogéniques d'alimentation empêchent la faune de maintenir ses fonctions écologiques habituelles. La présence d' espèces prédatrices de grande taille comme le varan, Varanus salvator, dans les zones de déve-loppement humain peut également entraîner des conflits si les animaux s'habituent de la présence d'humains ou entrent en compétition pour l'accès aux ressources. La compréhension des effets anthropogéniques sur l'utilisation des ressources par le V. salvator ainsi que sur ses activités est essentielle pour pouvoir prédire leur comportement et procéder à l'atténua-tion des conflits latents dans des environnements où les humains et le V. salvator cohabitent. Le domaine vital ainsi que les activités du V. salvator seront relevés sur l'île de Tinjil en Indonésie au moyen d'appareils de radio-télémétrie pour retracer les différents individus de V. salvator dans les zones de présence humaine variable au cours de la saison des pluies et de la saison sèche. Un portrait plus précis des influences anthropogéniques sur l'utilisation des ressources par le V. salvator contribuera au développement des connaissances du rôle écologique du V. salvator dans les zones non perturbées et dans celles modifiées par les humains et pourra servir de source d'information po...

Lead poisoning is an important conservation concern for wildlife, and scavenging birds are especially at risk from consumption of carcasses of animals killed with lead ammunition. Because current methods to identify lead exposure require animal capture and blood collection, management would benefit from the development of a less costly and noninvasive behavioral test for illness in wild animals. We attempted to design such a test to identify lead exposure in California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) that we tracked with global positioning system (GPS) telemetry in southern California, USA, 2013-2016. We measured blood-lead concentrations in tracked birds and expected that flight behavior would be influenced by lead exposure; thus, we measured the effect of blood-lead concentrations on 2 different types of movement rates and on the proportion of time condors spent in flight. We found no effect of lead exposure on any of these 3 behavioral metrics. Our work suggests that the measurements we took of flight behaviors were not a useful tool in predicting lead exposure in the mildly to moderately exposed birds we studied. Wild birds are effective at hiding illness, especially condors who have a strong social hierarchy in which showing weakness is a disadvantage. However, focusing on behaviors other than flight, expanding the sample studied to include birds with a wider range of lead concentration values, or analyzing tissues such as feathers (rather than, or in addition to, blood) may be more useful for identification of lead exposure and other diseases that may limit wildlife populations. Ó 2017 This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Snakes are commonly associated with feelings of anxiety or disgust, and snake conservation is often hindered by negative attitudes and perceptions. Although global snake populations are generally in decline, snakebite envenomation (SBE) continues to be recognized as a serious public health issue, particularly in rural areas of tropical and subtropical countries. Data on SBE, a neglected tropical disease, are lacking, and Indonesia, a hotspot of venomous snake diversity, has no snake bite reporting system. We analyzed 127 survey results in Banten, Indonesia with the aim of documenting SBE and exploring the relationships between respondents’ experiences, attitudes, and behaviors toward snakes. Nine percent of respondents had experienced SBE, and knowledge of SBE incidents was associated with negative attitudes toward snake populations, with negative attitudes toward snakes associated with a higher likelihood of anti-conservation behavior. Women were more fearful than men, and women and those with lower education levels were more negative toward pythons (Malayopython reticulatus), suggesting that increased knowledge may aid in snake conservation efforts. Universally negative risk beliefs and attitudes toward venomous snakes indicate a need to reduce the threat of SBE in our study area.

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