Biology Reference
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stump-tailed macaques have distinct morphological characters and only their
newborn infants have a whitish pelage color (Malaivijitnond and Hamada,
2005 ; Koyabu et al ., 2008 ). They are, therefore, the only macaque species not
misidentified by local Thai people.
Preliminary interviews and field observations at Lopburi
Lopburi is situated in Central Thailand, 154 km north of Bangkok, and is
now renowned as Thailand's “monkey-city” (WARF, 2007 ) due to a popu-
lation of long-tailed macaques that extensively interfaces with the people
there. Lopburi has been a site of human settlement since prehistoric times
but reached its first peak of prosperity in the Khmer period, between the
ninth and eleventh centuries C.E. (Ooi, 2004 ). It was during this period that
the Prang Sam Yot, Sarn Pra Karn, and other Khmer-style shrines in the
town were constructed. These religious shrines are still held sacred in Thai
society, and it is around the shrines that Lopburi's monkey population is
concentrated (Aggimarangsee, 1992 ; Watanabe et al ., 2007 ; Malaivijitnond
and Hamada, 2008 ).
The exact history of this monkey occupancy is not officially documented,
but Fooden ( 1971 ) reported Lopburi human residents stating that the monkeys
were thought to have descended to the shrine area from adjacent forests at least
50-60 years before his observations in 1967. If so, they have been in the city
for over 100 years. Today, the nearest “wild” long-tailed macaque population
is reportedly found at another temple site - Khao Phra Ngam - approximately
20 km away (Malaivijitnond and Hamada, 2008 ). The estimated population
size and number of groups found during visual surveys in this investigation
are similar to observations made by Watanabe et al . ( 2007 ) who recorded five
troops located in the Old City area in and around Prang Sam Yot, comprising
850-1,100 individuals within a 300 x 400 m 2 area. Interestingly, interview-
ees all overestimated the population size, which implies that without specific
counts people tend to overestimate the number of macaques present. The vari-
ation in answers regarding number of troops can be explained by the proximity
of groups to one another and the overlap in site use observed in some groups,
which make it difficult to distinguish between groups.
The difference in the two main human participant groups, locals and non-
locals, is similar to that found at monkey tourism sites around the world
(Fuentes, 2006 ; Zhao, 2005 ; Sha et al ., 2009 ). Preliminary observations suggest
interactions appear to differ in distinct areas and between various participants.
The interactions between tourists and macaques are intense, close in contact,
and brief, while the interactions between macaques and locals appear to exhibit
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