Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary
A 50-year population study of rhesus in Aligarh District of north central
India beginning in 1959 showed a substantial decline throughout the 1950s
and 1960s, followed by a stabilization and slow recovery of rhesus population
numbers in the 1970s and '80s, as rhesus trapping and export declined.
Since the export ban, the rhesus population of Aligarh District has increased
markedly, due to high birth rates and low mortality. Overall, the original
Aligarh sample of 403 monkeys increased from a low of 175 in 1969 to a high
of 744, an increase of 325 percent. Unfortunately, this increase has occurred
primarily in commensal habitats; that is, human dominated habitats, such as
roadsides (
Figure 11.4
), agricultural areas, canal banks, villages, towns and cit-
ies. Similar increases in rhesus populations have occurred throughout northern
India, creating problems of agricultural losses, and human health and safety.
The habitat distribution of rhesus from forests to human habitats is due to
both the loss of natural forests to agriculture and single-species timber produc-
tion, and the commensal nature of rhesus to adapt readily to human environ-
ments. In contrast, almost half the non-human primate species of India which
are obligate forest dwellers are suffering from severe habitat loss, and are in a
threatened or endangered state. The shift of rhesus populations from respected
and worshipped representatives of Hanuman, the Monkey God, to economic
and public health pests has created not only cultural and philosophical con-
flicts for many people of India, but a set of serious and expensive management
problems as well.
Unfortunately, rhesus have suffered from two management mistakes: exces-
sive trapping and export in the mid-twentieth century, followed by a virtually
complete ban on moderate utilization. With very high reproductive capacities,
rapid population growth, and commensal habits, rhesus should have a reason-
able degree of sustainable harvest similar to many wildlife populations, such
as white-tailed deer in the United States. Population evidence indicates that a
sustainable harvest rate of 20,000 per year could be of benefit to the welfare
of both the rhesus population and human population of India. This suggestion,
however, while based on scientific realities, represents a difficult and almost
insurmountable cultural and religious conflict for many people of India.
Acknowledgements
This field project was begun when CHS was a Fulbright Research Fellow at
Aligarh Muslim University in India with support from the US Educational
Foundation in India, and the USPHS-NIH in Bethesda. At that time, we are
