Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
2007
), while trade has created a greater demand and increased monetary reward
for trade with fewer regulations. Another factor could be the increased use of
this species in biomedical research in recent years (see Box 1.2), which has led
to calls for fewer regulations in the export of animals. The net effect has been
to remove conservation protection for the core species of
M. fascicularis
at a
time when pressures on their populations are growing. Overall, the core sub-
species of long-tailed macaque has essentially been removed from the radar for
any strong forms of protection from international governance, are now consid-
ered the world's worst primate pest (despite having the same features as several
other macaques, baboons, and guenons).
For the other subspecies of macaques, the conservation status differs dra-
matically from the core subspecies, but because of the status of
M. f. fas-
cicularis
the other subspecies are largely ignored. Most are data deficient,
while
M.f umbrosa
and
M.f. condorensis
are categorized as vulnerable and
M.f. philippensis
is near threatened. (Ong and Richardson,
2008
). When we
assess the subspecies of long-tailed macaques for conservation needs, a very
different picture emerges. For the most part, we are entirely ignorant of the
status of six of these forms, while the three that we do have any information on
all require conservation attention due to small numbers, geographical isolation,
and/or pressure on their populations. It is not unlikely that most of the data
deficient forms are also in need of some level of conservation support and that
we are just unaware of their status and needs. For example, on Karimunjawa
less than 300 macaques survive, all of which conflict with humans. The neigh-
boring island of Kemujan, the only other island where this subspecies occurs,
has not yet been surveyed, but it is unlikely to have any more macaques than
on Karimunjawa (see Box 1.1). As a result, we can safely assume that the
M. f. karimondjawae
situation does not differ much from the situation for
M.f. condorensis
, which is listed as vulnerable by IUCN.
As we better survey the population we may begin to uncover new subspe-
cies of long-tailed macaques, some of which may be threatened and require
conservation. There may be forms of long-tailed macaques that will be delin-
eated as new subspecies and may require conservation consideration in the
future. For example, it has been suggested that another subspecies exists west
of Kalimantan in Karimata (Yanuar
et al
.,
1993
). We may find that regional
populations distributed on the mainland may also be facing localized threats in
various areas. For example, in this volume, San and Hamada., Hamada
et al
.,
and Lee all report serious population pressures facing long-tailed macaques in
Myanmar (i.e.,
M. f. aurea
), Laos (i.e.,
M. f. fascicularis
), and Cambodia (i.e.,
M. f. fascicularis
) respectively.
Conservation of unique behavioral features of long-tailed macaques also
needs to be considered, as there is a large amount of behavioral variability
