Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Campus monkeys of Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia: Nuisance
problems and students' perceptions
B a d r u l M u n i r M d - Z a i n,
M o h a m e d R e z a T a r m i z i a n d M a s t u r a
M o h d -Z a k i
Introduction
Malaysia, in Southeast Asia, has a total landmass of 329, 845 km
2
, separated
by the South China Sea into two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo (i.e.,
Sabah and Sarawak). Peninsular Malaysia is located south of Thailand, north of
Singapore and east of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The country comprises
tropical rain forest with dipterocarp forests, peat swamp forests, and mangrove
forests (Mohd-Azlan,
2006
). The human population is about 28 million and
consists of multi-racial ethnic groups with a majority of Malays, followed by
Chinese, Indians and other minorities (Lim
et al
.,
2004
). The country is the
home for 229 species of mammals (Lim,
2008
) including 18-20 species of pri-
mate species (Brandon-Jones
et al
.,
2004
; Md-Zain
et al
.,
2009
).
In Malaysia, there are three species of macaques, pig-tailed macaques
(
Macaca nemestrina
), stump-tailed macaques (
Macaca arctoides
) and
long-tailed macaques (
Macaca fascicularis
) (Brandon-Jones
et al
.,
2004
).
M. nemestrina
is widely distributed within Peninsular Malaysia but mostly in
the undisturbed forests and is hardly seen near to the coastal forests.
M. arc-
toides
can only be found in northwestern part of Malay Peninsula (Medway,
1969
). Meanwhile,
M. fascicularis
can easily be found near rivers and low
ground secondary forests and near to human settlements (Marsh and Wilson,
1981
). Macaque populations in Malaysia have not received much attention as
many researchers focus on ecology, behavior and genetics of their sister taxon,
the leaf monkeys (e.g., Md-Zain
et al
., 2008, 2010a, 2010b, 2011; Matsuda
et al
., 2009).
