Crop raiding patterns of solitary and social groups of red-tailed monkeys on cocoa pods in Uganda
Abstract
Crop damage by wildlife is a very prevalent form of human-wildlife conflict adjacent
to protected areas, and great economic losses from crop raiding impede efforts to
protect wildlife. Management plans are needed to decrease damage by raiding wildlife,
yet conservation biologists typically lack the basic information needed for informed
conservation strategies. Red-tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) raid a variety
of crops adjacent to protected forests in East Africa; however, the role of group
structure on crop raiding has not been explored. Here, crop raiding patterns of solitary
males and social groups were investigated during 10 months in a plantation of mature
cocoa in Uganda. Monkeys gained access to the plantation via trees planted as wind
breaks and shade trees, and the sighting frequency of groups was negatively related
to the distance from the forest edge. In contrast, solitary males were sighted more
frequently far from the forest edge and caused proportionately greater damage than
members raiding in a social group. These results highlight that for social animals,
crop raiding behavior can vary among types of social groupings; appropriate strategies
to cope with raiding must therefore respond to this variation. Deborah Baranga, G.
Isabirye Basuta, Julie A. Teichroeb, and Colin A. Chapman.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9185Collections
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Julie A Teichroeb
Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology
Julie Teichroeb is a biological anthropologist who studies primate behavioral ecology.
Her research focuses on the evolution of sociality, examining group formation, the
underlying causes of social organization, and group decision-making. She is particularly
interested in the relative influence of social and ecological pressures on the evolution
of social organization; so how male and female reproductive strategies influence each
other and result in the group size and group compositions that
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