Despite the accumulating evidence suggesting the importance of phenotypic plasticity in diversification and adaptation, little is known about plastic variation in primate skulls. The present study evaluated the plastic variation of the mandible in Japanese macaques by comparing wild and captive specimens. The results showed that captive individuals are square-jawed with relatively longer tooth rows than wild individuals. We also found that this shape change resembles the sexual dimorphism, indicating that the mandibles of captive individuals are to some extent masculinized. By contrast, the mandible morphology was not clearly explained by ecogeographical factors. These findings suggest the possibility that perturbations in the social environment in captivity and resulting changes of androgenic hormones may have influenced the development of mandible shape. As the high plasticity of social properties is well known in wild primates, social environment may cause the inter- and intra-population diversity of skull morphology, even in the wild. The captive–wild morphological difference detected in this study, however, can also be possibly formed by other untested sources of variation (e.g. inter-population genetic variation), and therefore this hypothesis should be validated further.

Abstract. Mohd-Asri NF, Kamaluddin SN, Dharmalingam S, Idris WMR, Md-Zain BM. 2021. Valuing ecotourism in Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island, Malaysia based on visitors’ experience. Biodiversitas 22: 1543-1549. Ecotourism has been identified as one of the alternative ways of boosting a region's economic status and highlighting the necessity of a healthier tourism sector. Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island (BMOUI) is the only ex-situ conservation center promoting primate ecotourism on the Malay Peninsula. We conducted a primate ecotourism survey at BMOUI to determine six ecotourism expressive valuations for describing the quality of tourists’ visits to BMOUI and estimating tourist’s willingness to pay (WTP) in relation to the entrance fee. Surveys were completed by 100 randomly selected respondents aged at least 18 years. Likert scale items and Cronbach’s alpha were used in the data analyses. Six ecotourism experiences (hedonic, interaction, novelty, comfort, stimulation, and safety values) were further analyzed using statistical software. The results showed that visitors experienced moderate hedonic experience (44.8%), moderate interactive value (42.35%), moderate novelty value (42.5%), medium comfort value (42.5%), medium stimulation value (42.7%), and low security value (37.15%). In addition, the mean WTP, determined by the bidding process, was about RM54.90 per visitor for each visit. The findings of ecotourism experiences and the estimated price can provide important information to BMOUI administrators. This study will contribute indirectly to upgrading the level of awareness of primate conservation aspects among tourists, entrepreneurs, and locals.

Assessments of the welfare status of captive and semi-captive animals often compare how their expression of natural behaviours differs from that of free-ranging conspecifics. Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island (BMOUI) is the only orangutan rehabilitation and conservation centre in the Malay Peninsula. We recorded and analyzed the activity budget and postural behaviours of orangutans moving freely in the enclosures on BMOUI to evaluate their welfare status. From December 2015 to December 2016, we observed three individuals: an adult male, an adult female and a subadult male, and collected 252 hours of focal data (84 hr/individual). The orangutans' activity budget was dominated by resting (60%), feeding (13%), playing (14%) and moving (9%). The study individuals heavily relied on the artificial foods (79.2%), and they spent majority of their time on the ground (85.1%) with occasional arboreal observations like using the wooden tree platform or a rope. Despite some significant individual differences, behavioural categories followed a similar trend: resting > feeding > moving > playing, except that the subadult male spent significantly more time playing (35%) than the two adults (3-4%). The most predominant posture was sitting (47.0%), followed by pronograde standing (29.4%), lying (10.5%) and clinging (4.5%). Our results suggest that orangutans on BMOUI engage in less feeding but more resting, and show less postural diversity, than free-ranging individuals. We propose that appropriate interventions to shift activity budgets, especially feeding vs. resting, and postural behaviours of captive orangutans towards those found in free-ranging orangutans might be beneficial for their welfare and survival; however, the conclusions we can draw are limited due to the small sample size, and thus until the captive behaviours of a larger number of orang-utans has been described, these results must be considered preliminary and just a case study.

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Kamaluddin SN, Dharmalingam S, Md-Zain BM. 2019. Short Communication: Positional behavior of captive Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) at Bukit Merah Orangutan Island, Perak, Malaysia. Biodiversitas 20: 425-429. Bukit Merah Orangutan Island (BMOUI) is the only semi-captive orangutan conservation center in the Malay Peninsula. BMOUI promotes orangutan conservation through ex-situ efforts comprising rehabilitation, education, awareness, ecotourism, and research studies. This research aimed to determine the qualitative behavior aspects, especially focusing on the orangutan positional behavior on BMOUI. A focal instantaneous sampling method was carried out for 252 hours from December 2015 to November 2016. The qualitative results showed that the positional behaviors of a Bornean orangutan at BMOUI were divided into nine main categories, as follows: sitting, lying, clinging, forelimb-hindlimb suspension, standing, walking, running, brachiation, and multipositional modes. The most favorable position shown by a captive Bornean orangutan on BMOUI were dominated by sitting and lying postures. The variety of positional modes displayed in a semi-captive condition still maintained Bornean orangutan as the great ape originating from the tropical inhabitants of wooded environments.