M. D. Gumert, A. Fuentes, and L. Jones-Engel (eds): Monkeys on the Edge: Ecology and Management of Long-Tailed Macaques and Their Interface with Humans

Abstract

With rapid development and population growth in much of Southeast Asia, human interfaces with long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) are becoming more numerous and, in some cases, more intense. At the same time, popular television shows such as Dark Days in Monkey City (about toque macaques, Macaca sinica) and Monkey Thieves (about rhesus macaques, M. mulatta) are drawing attention to the ways in which humans interact with macaques. Several high-profile incidents, including the 2004 death of an Indian woman who fell off a roof and died while fleeing a group of rhesus macaques (Southwick and Siddiqi 2011), and a recent killing of a Malaysian human infant by a long-tailed macaque (BBC News 2010), have also brought human–macaque conflict issues to the forefront of public awareness, but in a negative light. This makes the publication of Monkeys on the Edge: Ecology and Management of Long-Tailed Macaques and Their Interface with Humans, the latest installment in the Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology series, particularly timely and relevant. This publication is the result of a collaboration of researchers, wildlife managers, and others, and discusses the human–macaque interface from a variety of perspectives and in a wide array of locations. The book mostly addresses issues concerning long-tailed macaques because they are so widespread and abundant, but many of the topics covered apply to other macaque species as well. The book is split into five parts: I. Status and distribution of long-tailed macaques; II. The human–macaque interface; III. Ethnophoresy of long-tailed macaques; IV. Comparisons with rhesus macaques; and V. Understanding and managing the human–macaque interface. The book has 13 chapters, and distributed throughout are various boxes that address special issues such as legal and illegal trade of macaques Int J Primatol (2012) 33:284–286 DOI 10.1007/s10764-011-9565-0