Abstract
The populations of many species that are widespread and commensal with humans have been drastically declining during the past few decades, but little attention has been paid to their conservation. Here, we report the status of the bonnet macaque, a species that is considered ‘least-concern’ for conservation. We show that the widely ranging rhesus macaque is expanding its range into the distributional range of the bonnet macaque, a species endemic only to southern India. Bonnet macaques have very low abundance in forests of all types indicating that it is not a typically forest dwelling species. The traditionally preferred habitats of bonnet macaques have been Hindu temples/ tourist spots but our data reveal that nearly 50% population of bonnet macaques has disappeared from such previously occupied spots. Another preferred habitat of bonnet macaques has been roadsides with abundant Ficus trees adjoining croplands. We found that between 2003 and 2015, the roadsides have drastically changed where vegetation has been replaced with barren lands and urbanization. Consequently, the populations of bonnet macaques have declined by more than 65% over the past 25 years, and by more than 50% between 2003 and 2015 alone. We, therefore, conclude that this ‘least-concern’ species is actually facing serious conservation challenges. We also identify a few places such as small hillocks with natural vegetation and a few temples/tourist spots which are likely to remain stable and thus can serve as ‘bonnet macaque conservation reserves’. Since the bonnet macaque shares many traits with several other commensal and ‘low-risk’ species, it can serve as a model for the development of long-term conservation strategies for most such species.
Highlights
Many species of animals that are geographically widespread, largely commensal to humans, and found in relatively large numbers, are labelled as “least concern” in terms of conservation and their populations remain data deficient [1]
We observed that the distributional range of the bonnet macaque is continually being reduced by the rhesus macaque in Peninsular India, the abundance of bonnet macaques in forested regions is very low, and the species is fast disappearing from its more common habitats around temples, tourist spots and roadsides
Rhesus macaques have been classified into Grade 1, the most aggressive, of macaques whereas bonnet macaques are listed under Grade 3, a more tolerant species [50]
Summary
Many species of animals that are geographically widespread, largely commensal to humans, and found in relatively large numbers, are labelled as “least concern” in terms of conservation and their populations remain data deficient [1]. Many such common species have undergone a drastic decline in their populations in the past few decades (e.g. House sparrow (Passer domesticus) see [2]; Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) see [3]; Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) see[1]). Interspecific interaction with predators and competitors resulting in reduction of distributional range has been shown to be a major reason for the decline and extinction of several species [19,20].Mammals are found to be extremely vulnerable to these conditions [8,14]and their responses to changing land use can serve as a good indicator of adaptability or local extinction for other vertebrates and invertebrates inhabiting the same area
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