Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
cats (
Felis catus
), rats (
Rattus
sp.), Java deer (
Cervus timorensis
), feral pigs
(
Sus scrofa
) and the long-tailed macaque (
Macaca fascicularis
). All have been
recognized as harmful to the native biodiversity (Owadally,
1979
; Cheke
et al
.,
1984
; Quammen,
1996
; Florens,
2008
).
The introduction of
Macaca fascicularis
to Mauritius
There is a lot of debate about who introduced the long-tailed macaque to
Mauritius. Cheke and Hume (
2008
) summarized the debate, indicating that
some consider the Portuguese to have been responsible, while others argue that
it was in fact the Dutch. Those who believe that the Portuguese were responsible
base their supposition mostly on the strategy of the Portuguese sailors at that
time, which was that when they found a suitable island, to plant some fruit trees
and leave livestock to multiply as a source of food for future visits. It has also
been debated whether the term livestock would include monkeys which in turn
gave rise to the rumor that Portuguese were fond of monkey meat. If indeed the
Portuguese did introduce the long-tailed macaque to the island, this introduction
would have taken place in the second quarter of the sixteenth century.
Those who support the idea that the Dutch were responsible for the ini-
tial introduction of monkeys argue that studies of contemporary manuscript
accounts of the first Dutch visit in 1598 makes no mention of monkeys being
present on the island. The only mammals reported to be present in 1598 were
bats. Another account dated from 1602 reports the only four-legged animal
present to be cats. However, some authors (Cheke and Hume,
2008
) believe
this to be a misprint or transcription error. The Dutch term for cat -
Katten
is very similar to the term for rat -
Ratten
. It might be possible that the 1602
report made mention of rats rather than cats, especially given that there was
no mention of cats in subsequent reports for more than 100 years following
this report. By 1606, it was reported that rats and monkeys were the only
four-legged animals to be present, indicating that (i) there might have been a
mistake in 1602 in translating rats and cats and (ii) that monkeys were intro-
duced somewhere between 1602 and 1606 by the Dutch.
While the literature is full of contradictions regarding whether the Portuguese
or the Dutch introduced the long-tailed macaque to Mauritius, of lesser debate
is the origin of these macaques. Although the long-tailed macaque is widely
distributed (i.e., Maleyo-Indonesian and Indochinese regions), it is generally
agreed that the founder population in Mauritius comes from Java, Indonesia
(Sussman and Tattersal,
1981
; Cheke and Hume,
2008
). This is supported by
historical considerations as well as a close examination of the physical char-
acteristics of the different populations, namely pelage coloration and hair tufts
