Tourist impact on Tibetan macaques

Document Type

Article

Department or Administrative Unit

Primate Behavior and Ecology

Publication Date

6-1-2006

Abstract

Ecotourism is a growing sector of the tourism industry, but few studies to date have quantified its impacts on local people, tourists and wildlife. We present a preliminary study on threat and affiliative behaviors of two groups of free-ranging Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) as a function of habituation and tourist presence. Data indicate that the less habituated group spent less time within sight of tourists compared with the more habituated group. The more habituated group engaged in frequent affiliative behaviors while within sight of humans, whereas affiliative behavior was not observed in the less habituated group. The general pattern of threats consisted of adults primarily threatening juveniles and juveniles primarily threatening humans, possibly due to redirection. No clear pattern of threats as a function of tourist density emerged. Tourist feeding, although discouraged, potentially provided a catalyst for some aggression. Future research will focus on clarifying which human behaviors evoke specific threat responses from monkeys. These data will be used to refine the existing management plan for this monkey population.

Comments

This article was originally published in Anthrozoös. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.

Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.

Journal

Anthrozoös

Rights

© 2006 International Society for Anthrozoology

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