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understanding the qualities of the interface, we can potentially begin to discern
their ecological affects on the interacting species.
The main foci of an ethnoprimatologist include human predation via hunt-
ing, human pet keeping, the role of primates in entertainment, human-other
primate overlap, the partitioning of space, the human habitat alteration on pri-
mates, bidirectional pathogen exchange, human perceptions, cultural aspects,
and the impacts of tourists and researchers on primate populations (Fuentes
and Hockings, 2010 ). Moreover, ethnoprimatologists focus on several aspects
of the human-animal relationship. For example, they study how crop raiding,
the threat of aggression, and the environmental impact by synanthropic pri-
mates can affect the livelihoods and perceptions of humans. They also study
how human alteration of the landscape, hunting, religious belief, and pet keep-
ing can affect the behavior and ecology of the synapthropic primate.
Ethnoprimatogists are also interested in human perceptions and behavior
towards macaques, as well as macaque behavioral patterns towards humans.
Current work has focused on how perceptions and behavior relate to human-
macaque conflict (Sha et al ., 2009a ; Fuentes et al ., 2008 , Fuentes and Gamerl,
2005 ; Wheatley and Putra, 1994 ; Wheatley et al ., 2002 ). On a simple level,
human behavior, including smiling, scolding and loud voices can have counter-
intuitive (for humans) responses from macaques. On the other hand, behavior
that macaques see as normative, threats, signs of stress, and norms of spatial
proximity are foreign to humans and often misread. Such misinterpretations of
signals across species, indicates an evolutionary mismatch in the signals (i.e.,
the signals have not evolved to communicate to the other species), and as a
result, an inability to communicate can lead to overt conflict (i.e., aggression).
On a broader scale, human cultural histories, religious perceptions, experience,
financial motivations, individual differences, etc. all interact to create very dif-
ferent perspectives on the perception of conflict with macaques. Some people
enjoy living near macaques, while other despise it and wish to have all of the
animals removed (see Sha et al ., 2009a for a discussion of attitude variation
in Singapore and Loudon et al ., 2006 for variation in Balinese perception of
the macaques). Human perceptions alone do not identify the characteristics of
the human-macaque relationship. Rather, a communities' set of attitudes and
beliefs are just another component of the sympatric relationship, and observa-
tional and ecological studies are additionally needed to fully understand the
impact of these attitudes.
The variation across areas of interfaces produce differing conditions
affecting the macaques, and this affects how humans impact the macaques.
Variation occurs as the result of a group's nationality, ethnicity, religion,
socio-economic status, urban or rural lifestyle, etc. (Fuentes in press ). Taking
an ethnoprimatological approach to all of these different situations allows
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