Anthropogenic impact on Rhesus Macaque (Macaca Mulatta Zimmermann, 1780) behavior in Pashupatinath temple area, Nepal
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Department of Zoology
Abstract
Rhesus macaques are highly commensal non-human primates and they display a close
relationship with humans. There is a controversy regarding the human-macaque interactions in
the wild and conflict is created due to these interactions. However, the effect of human
disturbance in the behavior of the rhesus macaques are understudied. This study is mainly
focused on the effect of human disturbance on feeding and grooming behavior of rhesus
macaques in Pashupatinath Temple area, Kathmandu. Two groups of macaques from
differential disturbance area were taken. Focal animal sampling was performed to note the
behavior of the macaques, whereas instantaneous scan sampling was used for the collection of
number of people at that exact time. Six focal animals from each group were observed. There
was no difference (t= 0.007, P= 0.497) between the time spent in overall activity by two groups
regardless of the human presence. Despite the overall activities of males and females being
insignificant in high (t= -0.109, P= 0.457) and low (t= -0.038, P= 0.485) disturbance area, there
was a noticeable difference in the individual activities. In both the study groups, males rested
more than females; whereas females groomed more than males. Assessing the human
disturbance effect in grooming activities suggested negative association in overall males and
females. In the low disturbance area, the effect on grooming were insignificant for both the
sexes (males and females) unlike the macaques in high disturbance area showing negative
association of human presence with grooming. Similarly, overall macaques from both high and
low disturbance area did not show any effect of human disturbance in feeding whereas the
females from both groups showed positive effect of human disturbance on feeding. However,
non-significant difference was observed in the feeding of individual sexes from both high and
low disturbance area. In conclusion, food provisioning of the people, teasing, scaring off
macaques, and throwing stones towards them might be the cause for the reduced grooming
time in macaques. However, in presence of humans they get to feed on provisioned food due
to which the time spent on feeding might have increased. The reason for insignificant difference
between the groups could be due to habituation of the macaques in the anthropogenic
environments.