Document Type

Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Winter 2018

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Primate Behavior

Committee Chair

Lori K. Sheeran

Second Committee Member

Jessica A. Mayhew

Third Committee Member

Mary Radeke

Abstract

Daily visitor-macaque interactions lead to higher rates of macaque aggression (macaque-human, intragroup), macaque self-directed behaviors (SDBs), and zoonotic disease transfer. At the Valley of the Wild Monkeys in Mt. Huangshan, China, I made an educational website with site-specific information (e.g., guidelines for conduct, park rules, conservation) available and unavailable through QR codes for an equal number of randomized days. I recorded visitor-Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana) behaviors on all days using human and macaque ethograms. Past researchers at this site found positive correlations between decibel levels and macaque SDBs, as such decibel levels were recorded daily. I compared the frequencies of macaque and human behaviors and average decibel levels on website “on” or “off” days. On website “on” days, visitors exhibited more macaque-directed behaviors, but I found no difference in decibel levels and macaques’ rates of aggressive and SDBs. My results indicate that at this site, web-based technology was not correlated with reduced rates of stress-inducing visitor behaviors, perhaps because only one percent of visitors viewed the website.

Language

English

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