Abstract
The Mentawai Archipelago (West-Sumatra, Indonesia) harbours a wealth of endemic animals and plants including six unique primate species, all threatened by habitat loss and hunting. Although hunting is known to be widespread, little systematic work has been carried out to examine its scale and impact on Mentawai´s primate populations. Here we report an island-wide survey carried out on Siberut, the archipelago’s largest island, to assess hunting behaviour with respect to the four locally-occurring primate species, as well as the attitudes of indigenous inhabitants to resource utilization. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in mid-2012 with 390 respondents from 50 villages using a structured questionnaire. Overall, ca. one quarter of the respondents (24%) are still active hunters, generally targeting Simias concolor (77%), Macaca siberu (71%) and Presbytis siberu (68%); Hylobates klossii is rarely hunted (3%). Mostly, a single animal is captured per hunt, with average numbers per three months ranging from 1.9-2.3 individuals (for S. concolor , M. siberu and P. siberu ). We found that in many aspects our data did not differ between the protected area (Siberut National Park) and the rest of the island, although hunting was significantly more prevalent within the protected area’s boundaries. Our approximation of annual offtake leads us to conclude that no less than 4,800 primates are taken every year (min. 6.4 % of the population). We provide recommendations on how to reduce hunting as a driver for population decline.
Highlights
The Mentawai Archipelago, situated approximately 150km off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia and comprising the four main islands of Siberut, Sipora, North- and South Pagai, is well known for its unusual biological richness and species endemism (WWF 1980; Fuentes 1996)
They are currently classified in the IUCN Red List (IUCN 2014) either as Vulnerable (M. siberu), Endangered (H. klossii and P. siberu [as P. potenziani siberu]) or Critically Endangered (M. pagensis, S. concolor and P. potenziani [as P. potenziani potenziani]); the Pig-tailed Langur belongs to the worlds 25 most endangered primates (Mittermeier et al 2012)
Our results emphasize that hunting is still an integral part of the culture of the Mentawai Islands, and Siberut
Summary
The Mentawai Archipelago, situated approximately 150km off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia and comprising the four main islands of Siberut, Sipora, North- and South Pagai, is well known for its unusual biological richness and species endemism (WWF 1980; Fuentes 1996). Covering just over 6,000km (BPSKKM 2011), the island chain harbours a wealth of endemic animals and plant species - of the mammals alone, nearly 60% are endemic to the region at some level (cf Wilson & Reader 2005; IUCN 2014) Amongst these are six species of primates, namely the Siberut- and the Pagai Island Macaque (Macaca siberu and M. pagensis), both locally known as ‘Bokkoi’, the Siberut- and the Mentawai Langur or ‘Joja’ (Presbytis siberu and P. potenziani), the Pig-tailed Snub-nosed Langur or ‘Simakobu’ (Simias concolor), and Kloss’ Gibbon or ‘Bilou’ (Hylobates klossii) (Images 1–4).
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