Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
which are consistent with the Javan population (Sussman and Tattersal,
1981
).
Furthermore, DNA analysis in the mid 1980's has confirmed this origin as well
as establishing that the founder population was very small, consistent with
an unintended introduction such as escaped or abandoned pets (Lawler
et al
.,
1995
). It is worthwhile to note that a more recent study explored the alternative
hypothesis of the Mauritian macaque being of Sumatran origin by a phylogen-
etic analysis but due to a very limited sample size from monkeys of Javan ori-
gin, they did not reject the hypothesis that Mauritian monkeys originate from
Java (Tosi and Coke,
2006
).
However, regardless of who introduced them or the geographic origin of
Mauritius' long-tailed macaque, this generalist has since thrived in the coun-
try. Mauritius offered all the habitat types that these macaques are known to
occupy, primary, secondary, coastal, mangrove, riverine and savannah forest
types. It was even reported that one of the reasons the Dutch left the island
in 1710 was due to damages inflicted on crops and food stocks by rats and
allegedly monkeys (Carie,
1916
). Even after the French settlement in 1722,
reports of damage by monkeys were still being related by the French settlers
with one report by Baron Grant in 1741 going as far as to say that native birds
were becoming scarce in the woods “as the monkies, which are in great num-
bers, devour their eggs” (Cheke and Hume,
2008
).
After 1810, when the British took over, the island went through a major
change. There was a boom both in terms of population as well as in agri-
culture, with sugarcane establishing itself as the driving force behind the
island's economy. Massive deforestation occurred throughout the island
over the years resulting in wildlife (both native and exotic) to be confined in
smaller and smaller areas. In 1859, George Clark commented on the rarity
of birds and blamed the monkeys for their destruction (Cheke and Hume,
2008
.). In 1880, the first report to be done on Mauritian forests, assess-
ing their condition and recommendations for future management, Richard
Thompson of the Indian Forest Service, wrote that monkeys ate eggs and
young of birds and in addition, stated that monkeys “devour and throw down
the unripe seeds of all the principal and important forest trees, so that it is
scarcely possible to secure ripe seed that will germinate” (Cheke and Hume,
2008
).
The only attempt to study the distribution and abundance of
Macaca fas-
cicularis
was carried out between 1977 and 1984 and it was concluded that
the estimated 25,000-35,000 population of long-tailed macaque lived over the
45,000 ha of available and suitable habitat with a variation in the densities
in different habitat types (Sussman and Tattersal,
1986
). These figures were
revised upwards by Bertram and Ginsberg (
1994
), who used different statis-
tical assumptions estimating the population at 40,000. But, most recently have
