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The relationships between humans and other primates have ranged from commensalism
to predator and prey. These primates are sometimes revered as God (Hanuman), but often
they are hunted for food, or kept as pets and/or `workers' (see Smuts et al., 1987; and Malik and Johnson, 1994). However, in areas where hunting is banned or the culture of eating
and/or revering these primates is absent, they are now considered as pests and a nuisance.
This situation is actually a result of how this wildlife responds to anthropogenic disturbances
in their natural habitats for survival. These primates have adapted to, or even thrived in
the human-modified environments by changing their behavior and diets (Marsh et al., 1986; and Strum, 1987). In Malaysia, recently, the primate-human conflict had reached a climax
in which the government had decided to allow for `selective' macaque trapping and export
in order to control the pest problem (Anonymous, 2007; and John and Salleh, 2007).
In a national report on primate pests, it was identified that the two main types of
primate-human conflicts are urban nuisance and crop raiding, whilst `kera'
(Macaca fascicularis) is on top of the pest wildlife list and other primates include `beruk'
(Macaca nemestrina) and `lotong cengkung'
(Presbytis obscura) (see Saaban, 2006; and Saaban et al., 2006).
In Malaysia and elsewhere where these primates occur, it is commonly observed that
the urban monkeys are dependent on a variety of sources for food, e.g., human trash,
stealing and receiving human food, and, they usually live within the urban perimeter. In
comparison, primate populations that habitually raid crops live in forest fringes but
would opportunistically venture out into agricultural areas in peninsular Malaysia (Hashim,
1997; and Saaban, 2006). Recognizing the need to ameliorate the primate-human conflicts,
we suggest that the control of problematic species should be a crucial part of an
integrated wildlife management, with significant efforts being put into understanding the
relationships between the species and the anthropogenic disturbances on the landscape scale.
The Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Park (Perhilitan) has
recently published an action plan to control macaque pest problems, which is a
further indication of a serious primate-human conflict (Saaban, 2006; and Saaban et al., 2006). However, there was no detailed spatial analysis of crop raiding potential for
different land use types in their action plan. We feel that GIS is useful in studying crop
raiding because crop raiding depends on factors such as the types and distribution patterns
of crops and primates on a large spatial scale, i.e.,
kilometer scale. In a GIS, the overlay of these datasets can be done, thus, permitting the analysis of how these
factors interact with each other to influence the levels of crop raiding. Other advantages
of mapping crop raiding potential include: (1) Knowing where to focus patrolling
efforts is useful for Perhilitans' officers and rangers, especially when there is shortage
of manpower on the ground; (2) Knowing where crop raiding is likely to occur is
useful for land and property managers to devise ways to reduce or to avoid crop raiding,
e.g., by planting crops that are not desired by primates. Hence, in this study, using
Negeri Sembilan and Melaka as a case study, a GIS that can be used to predict primate
crop raiding is developed. |
