Scholarlink

<p>The spatial distribution of food shapes animal movement patterns, enabling them to optimize search behaviour and establish efficient routes for resource exploitation. Anthropogenic alteration of primate habitats, fragments available resources, and increases dependency on human food. The rhesus macaque (<i>Macaca mulatta</i>) exhibits a broad spectrum of habitat preferences, encompassing both natural and human-altered landscapes. We studied how these preferences influence ranging behaviour in synanthropic macaques. We studied two similar-sized synanthropic rhesus macaque groups in a 16 km<sup>2</sup> suburban area in Dehradun, India. We tagged an adult female from each group with a GPS-GSM logger, recording fixes at 15-min intervals during the summer (April–June) and monsoon (July–August) of 2022. We investigated ranging patterns, habitat selection (via integrated step selection analysis, which models animal movement and habitat preference by analysing step choices based on current location and habitat characteristics), site fidelity, and movement strategy (via evaluation of consecutive step lengths) of the macaques during these two seasons based on the logged GPS coordinates during this period. Overall, the home and core ranges were small. The mean total distance covered diurnally was ~5–8 times the mean of the shortest distance between the first and last location diurnally. The macaques showed a strong preference for roadside and human habitation. Both individuals showed high site fidelity. Both individuals used a strategy of short intensive searches followed by long directed movements. The preference for anthropogenic sites and site fidelity along habitat edges shows recurrent movement to human dumpsites and houses, followed by return trips to preferred refuges. The overall movement strategy of these macaques in human-modified landscapes involved travel between clustered foraging and resting sites, reflecting an adaptive response to spatially fragmented resources and highlighting how resource distribution influences search efficiency and route optimization. This movement pattern may reinforce perceptions of heightened agonistic interactions among humans and influence the long-term dynamics of human-macaque coexistence.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Simians Amidst Sapiens: Ranging Patterns and Movement Strategy of Synanthropic Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) in Northern India

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2025年3月10日

查看全文
  • Uddalak Tathagato Bindhani,
  • Sanath Krishna Muliya,
  • Lallianpuii Kawlni,
  • Vishnupriya Kolipakam,
  • Kafil Hussain,
  • Qamar Qureshi

摘要

The spatial distribution of food shapes animal movement patterns, enabling them to optimize search behaviour and establish efficient routes for resource exploitation. Anthropogenic alteration of primate habitats, fragments available resources, and increases dependency on human food. The rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) exhibits a broad spectrum of habitat preferences, encompassing both natural and human-altered landscapes. We studied how these preferences influence ranging behaviour in synanthropic macaques. We studied two similar-sized synanthropic rhesus macaque groups in a 16 km2 suburban area in Dehradun, India. We tagged an adult female from each group with a GPS-GSM logger, recording fixes at 15-min intervals during the summer (April–June) and monsoon (July–August) of 2022. We investigated ranging patterns, habitat selection (via integrated step selection analysis, which models animal movement and habitat preference by analysing step choices based on current location and habitat characteristics), site fidelity, and movement strategy (via evaluation of consecutive step lengths) of the macaques during these two seasons based on the logged GPS coordinates during this period. Overall, the home and core ranges were small. The mean total distance covered diurnally was ~5–8 times the mean of the shortest distance between the first and last location diurnally. The macaques showed a strong preference for roadside and human habitation. Both individuals showed high site fidelity. Both individuals used a strategy of short intensive searches followed by long directed movements. The preference for anthropogenic sites and site fidelity along habitat edges shows recurrent movement to human dumpsites and houses, followed by return trips to preferred refuges. The overall movement strategy of these macaques in human-modified landscapes involved travel between clustered foraging and resting sites, reflecting an adaptive response to spatially fragmented resources and highlighting how resource distribution influences search efficiency and route optimization. This movement pattern may reinforce perceptions of heightened agonistic interactions among humans and influence the long-term dynamics of human-macaque coexistence.