The Development of Primate Raiding: Implications for Management and Conservation

Abstract

Ecosystems and habitats are fast becoming human dominated, which means that more species, including primates, are compelled to exploit new human resources to survive and compete. Primate “pests” pose major management and conservation challenges. I here present the results from a unique opportunity to document how well-known individuals and groups respond to the new opportunity to feed on human foods. Data are from a long-term study of a single population in Kenya at Kekopey, near Gilgil, Kenya. Some of the naïve research baboons became raiders while others did not. I compare diet, activity budgets, and home range use of raiders and nonraiders both simultaneously, after the incursion of agriculture, and historically compared to the period before agriculture appeared. I present measures of the relative benefits (female reproduction) and costs (injuries, mortality, and survivorship) of incorporating human food into the diet and discuss why the baboons raid and their variations in raiding tendencies. Guarding and chasing are evaluated as control techniques. I also suggest conflict mitigation strategies by identifying the most likely options in different contexts. I end with a proposal for a rapid field assessment of human wildlife conflict involving primates.

Crop-raiding macaques: predictions, patterns and perceptions from Langtang National Park, Nepal

“…Simple and cheap deterrents, such as fences, guarding by people or dogs, throwing objects or making a loud noise, many of which are already employed in our study area, can be effective but probably only when used systematically. Crucially, as highlighted by Strum (2010), crop-raiding primates may have an energetic advantage over non-crop-raiding primates because of the high caloric content of cultivated crops. They can afford to sit and wait, needing only a short lapse in guarding to obtain the desired crops.…”

Assessment of types of damage and causes of human-wildlife conflict in Gera district, south western Ethiopia

“…However, currently, wildlife habitats are fast becoming human-dominated, which means that more wild species are compelled to exploit new human resources to survive (Strum, 2010;Castro and Nielsen, 2003;Warner, 2000). HWC results in negative impact on people or their resources, and wild animals or their habitat.…”

“…Though, majority of the Gera land has been covered by natural forest in the past, nowadays, it has been shrinking in size due to increasing subsistence agriculture and modern coffee production which results in conflict (Hundera, 2007;Quirin, 2005;Strum, 2010). Leta et al (2015) identified the major wildlife species involved in the HWC and local management methods in Gera, Southwestern Ethiopia.…”

The value of disturbance-tolerant cercopithecine monkeys as seed dispersers in degraded habitats

“…This negative perception poses a major threat to their conservation (Hill and Webber, 2010;Lee and Priston, 2005). The lethal control of ''pests'' has caused the extinction of several animal species (Woodroffe et al, 2005) and cercopithecines are frequently killed in retaliation for raiding (Boulton et al, 1996;IUCN, 2013;Priston, 2005;Richard et al, 1989;Strum, 2010).…”