Sharing Space with Monkeys and Human Tolerance Are Critical Supplements to Primate Conservation, but Not Substitutes for Protected Nature Reserves: A Long-Term View from Sri Lanka, with a Reply to Rudran [2021].

Many investigators of human-monkey competition (HMC) in Sri Lanka have revealed some common threads. Except at temple and protected sites, all monkeys were considered as household or agricultural pests wherever they shared space with humans. This included the widely distributed toque macaque (Macaca sinica), the grey langur (Semnopithecus priam thersites) of the Dry Zone, and the purple-faced langur (S.

Shields on Electric Posts Prevent Primate Deaths: A Case Study at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.

When monkeys, such as the toque macaques (Macaca sinica) of Sri Lanka, seek food on the ground near human habitation, they may use electrical posts to escape aggression from conspecifics, dogs, or humans. Shields mounted on electrical posts prevented monkeys from reaching the electrical wires, thereby averting their electrocution: the frequency of electrocutions (n = 0) was significantly less (p < 0.001) in the 12 years after installation of the shields than in the 12 years before (n = 18).

Assessing Public Perceptions and Solutions to Human-Monkey Conflict from 50 Years in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is a biodiversity hotspot with high human density that contributes to increasing human-monkey conflict (HMC). In 50 years of primate studies there, the development of HMC has been documented, and many workshops and interventions organized to ameliorate HMC. These activities prompted the present survey.

Vitamin D status in wild toque macaques (Macaca sinica) in Sri Lanka.

The vitamin D receptor is found on most cells, including active immune cells, implying that vitamin D has important biological functions beyond calcium metabolism and bone health. Although captive primates should be given a dietary source of vitamin D, under free-living conditions vitamin D is not a required nutrient, but rather is produced in skin when exposed to UV-B light. The circulating level of 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D) considered adequate for humans is a topic of current controversy.

Validating skinfold thickness as a proxy to estimate total body fat in wild toque macaques (Macaca sinica) using the mass of dissected adipose tissue.

Skinfold thickness (SFT) has been used often in non-human primates and humans as a proxy to estimate fatness (% body fat). We intended to validate the relation between SFT (in recently deceased specimens) and the mass of adipose tissue as determined from dissection of fresh carcasses of wild toque macaques (Macaca sinica). In adult male and female toque macaques body composition is normally 2% adipose tissue.

Arboreal adaptations of body fat in wild toque macaques (Macaca sinica) and the evolution of adiposity in primates.

There is a paucity of information on body composition and fat patterning in wild nonhuman primates. Dissected adipose tissue from wild toque macaques (Macaca sinica) (WTM), feeding on a natural diet, accounted for 2.1% of body weight.

Transmission dynamics of Cryptosporidium infection in a natural population of non-human primates at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.

Infections from Cryptosporidium parvum are of interest not only to public health, but also to wildlife conservation, particularly when humans and livestock encroach on nature and thereby increase the risk of cross-species transmissions. To clarify this risk, we used polymerase chain reaction to examine the hypervariable region of the C. parvum 18S rRNA gene in feces from three monkey species.

Prevalence of cryptosporidium and other enteric parasites among wild non-human primates in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.

Cryptosporidiosis is a rapidly emerging disease in the tropics. This is the first report of Cryptosporidium and other protozoan infections (Entamoeba spp., Iodamoeba, Chilomastix, and Balantidium spp.

Hematology of a natural population of toque macaques (Macaca sinica) at polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.

Hematological studies were conducted in three wild groups of toque macaques (Macaca sinica) inhabiting the Polonnaruwa Sanctuary in northeastern Sri Lanka. The macaques were temporarily trapped and anesthetized, and femoral blood was drawn from 35 males and 37 females (age range: 0.33-24.

Primate population studies at Polonnaruwa. II. Heritability of body measurements in a natural population of toque macaques (Macaca sinica).

The heritability of quantitative traits, or the proportion of phenotypic variation due to additive genetic or heritable effects, plays an important role in determining the evolutionary response to natural selection. Most quantitative genetic studies are performed in the laboratory, due to difficulty in obtaining genealogical data in natural populations. Genealogies are known, however, from a unique 20-year study of toque macaques (Macaca sinica) at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.