Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
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Figure 11.2. The rhesus macaque population in Aligargh between 1959 and 2008
A separate group in our study area, the Qasimpur group, is not included in
the above numbers because it originated as a transplant of 20 monkeys into
our area. In 1982, an unhappy villager whose mango grove outside our main
study area was being heavily damaged by a group of more than 100 rhesus
monkeys pleaded with us to remove some of these monkeys to reduce his
crop losses. He claimed rhesus were taking one-fifth of his crop. We agreed
to remove some, not realizing how difficult it would be to find a place to put
them. The trapping was no problem, but finding a suitable area where villag-
ers or neighboring people were willing to accept even a small number of rhe-
sus proved to be frustrating and difficult. After a year's field effort, we found
a forest patch of 4 ha along a canal, 2 km. from a village known as Qasimpur
where the canal authorities, the owners of the woodlot, and the villagers of
Qasimpur were willing to have 20 rhesus relocated in the forest patch. We did
this in September of 1983. For several months, one of us (MFS) distributed
food for these monkeys in an effort to keep them at the forest release site.
The monkeys ranged along the canal bank, however, and finally after several
months took up residence at a bridge crossing in the village of Qasimpur.
This group of 20monkeys began reproducing within a few months, and for
the next six years, the birth rates of adult females in the group were 90 to 100
