Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 1.1 The long-tailed macaques of Karimunjawa (
Macaca
fascicularis karimondjiwae
): A small and isolated island subspe-
cies threatened by human-macaque conflict
Nur Afendi, Devis Rachmawan and Michael D. Gumert
In April 2008, the first census of long-tailed macaques on Karimunjawa
(
Macaca fascicularis karimondjiwae
) was carried out for four weeks around
Karimunjawa National Park (KjNP). The Karimunjawa archipelago is a
chain of small islands that is located about 80 km north of Jepara in Central
Java, Indonesia. The island chain is located between 5° 49' - 5° 57'S and
110° 04 - 110° 40E, and the three largest islands in this chain are the main
island of Karimunjawa (46.19 km
2
), Kemujan (15.01 km
2
) and Parang
(8.7 km
2
). Only five islands in the chain are inhabited by humans, and
macaques are only reported to inhabit Karimunjawa and Kemujan. The cur-
rent human population is about 9,054 people on five of the islands, of which
18.5 percent are farmers and 45.4 percent are fishermen (BTNK,
2008
).
The islands of Karimunjawa are part of a Marine National Park, and
much of the main island of Karimunjawa is part of KjNP. The islands con-
sist of mangrove forest, coastal forest, and lowland tropical forest, and there
are protected reefs offshore. The park area on Karimunjawa Island is a hilly
area covering most of the central region of the island. The current study
occurred only on Karimunjawa, but not Kemujan due to time constraints and
limited manpower. The two islands are connected via a mangrove area and a
bridge and the majority of the population is thought to be on Karimunjawa,
although macaques also occur on Kemujan. During the study, around thirty
local people were interviewed and macaque groups were followed daily to
count the number of macaques, determine their pattern of distribution, and
to assess the level of conflict occurring between the macaques and people
of Karimunjawa.
Based on our preliminary survey and interviews conducted, we were able
to determine that there were three locations on the island of Karimunjawa
where monkeys were frequently observed: Kemloko, Legon Lele, and
Nyamplungan (
Figure 1.3
)
. After exploring these locations, we counted 23
groups during our study and a total of 269 individuals, of which 82 were
fully adult. The average was eleven to twelve individuals per group. About
half of the population was found to occur in Legon Lele, and the other half
was about equally distributed amongst Kemloko and Nyamplungan. If we
consider the macaques as being capable of ranging over the entire 46.19
km
2
island, the density of macaques on Karimunjawa Island was calculated
to be around 5.78 macaques per km
2
. More precisely though, if we attempt
