Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.10. Long-tailed macaques jump on shoulders and backs, and cling on hair of
the non-local Thai (a) and foreign visitors (b) while they gave foods to the monkeys at
Prang Sam Yot shrine, Lopburi (photographs by Y. Vazquez and S. Malavijitnond).
twice a day and consisted of food bought with donation money collected at
Sarn Pra Karn. Foods provisioned behind Prang Sam Yot and behind the fire
station appeared to be mostly donated by local people at various times through-
out the day. However, the monkeys were also provisioned on a lesser scale
throughout the main 1 km
2
overlap zone. Some local people fed the monkeys
daily on their rooftops, outside their windows or on their doorsteps, or just
dropped food on the pavements as they passed by, or threw food out of their
car windows. Tourists tended to feed the macaques mostly in and around the
grounds of Prang Sam Yot and Sarn Pra Karn shrines.
Interactions
Observed human-monkey interactions were almost always associated with pro-
visioning, whether “intentional provisioning” or “unintentional provisioning.”
Although provisioning was offered both by locals and non-locals, Thais and
foreigners alike, the interactions associated with such provisioning appeared
to be quite different. Provisioning initiated by locals rarely involved contact
with the macaques, as food was dropped on the ground and the provisioner
moved away as the monkeys approached to eat. In contrast, non-locals, par-
ticularly foreigners, often handed over food morsels by hand and encouraged
the monkeys to approach, frequently allowing one or several monkeys to jump
on them and cling to their clothing, head, limbs, and hair (
Figure 5.10
). As
non-locals were concentrated mostly within the grounds of the two shrines, it
is likely that most close contact interactions took place in these areas with the
largest macaque group.
