Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
beyond the exposed continental shelf in Southeast Asia or Sundaland which
once connected Sumatra and Borneo (Tjia,
1970
). While the term “ethnophor-
esy” is new, the concept of human translocation of species is old. In Alfred
Russel Wallace's (
1869
) 1859 journeys, for example, he discussed how local
Malayans often kept tame pets such as monkeys and carried them around in
their boats. He found it difficult to imagine how
Macaca nigra
could have
reached the Island of Batchian (Bacan) by any natural means of dispersal with-
out passing over the narrow straits to Gilolo, Halmahera. We need to be careful
however, because, as Fooden (
1991
) points out, complete land bridges during
glacial events are not always necessary for this macaque's dispersal as appar-
ently occurred in its colonization of the Philippine archipelago. Macaques are
good swimmers and rafting between islands is another possibility.
Macaca fascicularis
is not only extensively distributed throughout the
Southeast Asian archipelago, but it is also one of the most widespread non-
human primates (see Gumert, Chapter 1). It is, therefore, an interesting and
sometimes difficult question to determine the extent of the connection between
the distribution of this species and its human dispersal. It has been a resident on
some islands such as Java for over a million years (Hooijer,
1952
), but on other
islands such as Mauritius (Sussman and Tattersall,
1981
), and Ngeaur (Poirier
and Smith,
1974
), it is a relative newcomer.
Although the most eastern point on the globe inhabited by a macaque
during Wallace's time was
M. nigra
on Bacan, it has now been eclipsed by
M. fascicularis
and by the same process - man. Furthermore,
M. fascicularis
is
now the only established macaque population in all of Oceania in Micronesia
on the island of Ngeaur (a.k.a., Anguar), one of sixteen states in the Republic
of Palau (
Figure 10.1
). Palau is about 500 miles east of Mindinao and about
700 miles southeast of Guam. Ngeaur is a raised atoll or limestone reef of
3.2 sq. mi. (
Figure 10.2
). The nearest population of macaques is over 500 miles
away in the Republic of the Philippines. The somewhat recent human disper-
sal of this population of long-tailed macaques is an excellent example of how
humans have facilitated the adaptive success of this primate. This species dis-
persed many thousands of years ago throughout the Indonesian archipelago
and the means of their dispersal can, in many cases, only be conjectured. The
long-tailed macaque has benefited from their close association with humans in
some areas while suffering from this association in others. The species ranges
from commensal to completely non-commensal in forest habitats. This chapter
examines the macaque population of Palau since its introduction and the vari-
ous issues relating to its management or attempted eradication.
The study of the more encompassing interactions between humans and non-
human primates is called ethnoprimatology (Sponsel,
1997
). Sponsel (
1997
)
appears to have been one of the first to draw attention to this informative
