The three guest speakers: Kevin Laland, Julia Ostner and Anna Wilkinson

The quality of the talks and posters was excellent and the conference was also an excellent opportunity for members of the Barbary Macaque Project to meet up.

Members of the Barbary Macaque Project at the conference

Sally Street won the student prize for the best oral presentation and Sandra Molesti won the poster prize: well done!

Sandra Molesti, winner of the student prize for best poster

The next PSGB Easter Conference will be hosted by Oxford Brookes University: see you there!

Sally Street, winner of the student prize for best talk, receiving the prize from Kim Bard (PSGB President)

The poster baboon of BBC Africa

Hi Blog readers,

Just a quick note to let you all know everyone on the Barbary Macaque Project is very excited for the new BBC Natural History Units Series called Africa. I am sure you can all remember over the last couple of years we have had the BBC coming to film the Green Group.  Well next Wednesday (2nd) at 9pm the first episode of the series starts on BBC One in the UK. We hope that you can all tune in for the series and enjoy it. For more details click on the webpage link below…

BBC Webpage

I am unsure which episode the Barbary macaques will appear in but as always with all BBC documentary series i am sure it will be worth watching all the episodes. Below is a link to the trailer for the new series to give you a taster of what’s to come…

BBC Africa Trailer

I was lucky enough to receive the book to accompany the series at Christmas and if the pictures and descriptions in the book are anything to go by then we are in for a treat! And i was very pleased to see the troubles and tribulations of the filming periods in Morocco were mentioned in the book. The poor filming team coming to film snow monkeys and ending up with a lovely tan and bright sunshine. But later the snow did fall and the Green Group will soon be famous TV stars.

As researchers we just hope it won’t go to their heads!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and from everyone on the Barbary Macaque Project we wish you all the best for 2013!

Chris

Artemis consuming a bird

As many of you will have noticed a couple weeks ago our new paper was published in African Primates describing new foods in the Barbary macaque diet. I would like to share with you here a couple of videos of these behaviours and a few photo’s.

Quick bird snack

The first video is of Ben eating a rabbit. This video was taken by Sofia. The behaviour was also observed by Michael and Maria. The video is a little gruesome and not for the faint of heart or one to watch over dinner. Click on the link below:

Rabbit eating

All feeding on animals was observed during the very dry, hot summer months when food was scarce and a little extra protein and vitamins would be very welcome. The next video is of Artemis. He was stood in front of me and jumped up and pounced on a fledgling bird, caught it and then sat and slowly ate his meaty snack. Again the video is a little gruesome. Click on the link below:

Bird eating

I was very lucky to have an alert and eagle-eyed team through out my fieldwork and through longer term projects we were able to discover some previously unknown behaviours. This is just one example of the many interesting discoveries coming out of the Barbary Macaque Project. I will have some more exciting news to bring you in the coming weeks. But for now if you would like to learn more about unusual feeding habits then check out the publication at African Primates. It’s open access and free for all to download -

http://journals.sfu.ca/afrprims/index.php/AfricanPrimates/article/view/62

Chris

Every day we observe the behaviour of many tourists interacting with monkeys at the tourist group at our field site. A large number of tourists, if not 100% of them, do not seem to realise the potential risk that macaques could represent when people act in such irresponsible behaviour.  I can give you thousands of examples about these situations.

Many parents want to take pictures of their children, even babies, close to a monkey. When I say close I mean less than 1 metre from an adult male monkey which is often bigger or the same size as the child. The parents often encourage their child to give food to the monkeys while they take a picture. However, people get regularly scratched on their hand by a monkey who tries to reach out the food.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0COO-EKGcPA&feature=youtu.be

Link: Video of Pepito being petted by 2 young children while their father takes a picture. See images for the outcome.

We also see many tourists who try to touch the monkeys and get aggressed.

Tourists touching and feeding a young adult Barbary macaque. Results: open mouth threat and scratches!

People often told me that these monkeys are not dangerous; they are domestic, so there is no problem to approach them closely, even touch them. It is true that I have never seen a fatal Barbary macaque aggression to a human yet. However, these animals are not domestic; they are wild monkeys who were habituated to human presence because of the food supplied by tourists and local people. These animals are not vaccinated and do not have any health checks. Hence, disease transmission is a real risk that tourists subconsciously take when they interact with these animals. A simple scratch might be a real health risk.

A few months ago, a sub-adult female from the tourist group jumped on my back while I was following another monkey for behavioural data collection. In several years of working with wildBarbarymacaques, it was the first time that I was physically aggressed by a macaque which left a bleeding scratch on my neck. I believe that the frequent close interactions with tourists unfortunately lead to this kind of aggression. Although the injury was not serious, the risk of disease transmission still needs to be taken into consideration. It was also an interesting experience to know how Moroccan health care would treat this case.

Scratch left by the sub-adult female. Nice vampire bite!

The day after, I went the public hospital in order to get rabies and tetanus vaccines. I had to insist a bit to get my vaccines done, but overall everything went well. I admit that I am not a fan of injections but to prevent the risk of rabies a series of 4 injections is needed (2 injections day 0, 1 injection day 7 and 1 injection day 21). It was such a relief that it was done and for free! The doctor who did the injections was very nice and explained me that several cases of rabies were suspected each year in the region, mainly due to dog bites. He also said that few tourists were also coming every year to his surgery to get rabies vaccinations or to be treated for a scratch or injury after an aggression by monkeys. He added this sentence: “That is not surprising if you see how close people can get to the monkeys.”

 Having rabies injections!

These are just few examples of the risks tourists face. In the next post, I will introduce to you what can be the risks to the monkeys.

Laetitia

Link of the post from MPC: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moroccan-Primate-Conservation/169428179781595

We report a series of observations, for the first time in the wild, on the capture and consumption of two prey items which previously had not been reported in the diet of the Barbary macaque: adult European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and chicks of the hoopoe (Upupa epops). Our study highlights the flexibility of the macaques in terms of feeding behaviour.

Young CA, Schülke O, Ostner J, Majolo B (2012) Consumption of unusual prey items in the Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus). African Primates, 7: 224-229.

You can read the full paper here: http://journals.sfu.ca/afrprims/index.php/AfricanPrimates/article/view/62/47

A monkey feeding in the forest. Photograph by Chris Young

Sandra

Here is the full reference to the paper and the abstract…we hope you enjoy it!

McFarland R & Majolo B (2012). The occurrence and benefits of post-conflict bystander affiliation in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). Animal Behaviour, 84: 583-591. (Web link)

Abstract

The majority of studies investigating conflict management in animal societies have focused on the role of reconciliation in mediating the costs of aggression. The function of bystander affiliation (i.e. the selective attraction between an opponent and a bystander in the minutes immediately following aggression) is less well understood. We examined, in wild Barbary macaques, four potential functions of bystander affiliation with the victim of aggression: (1) bystander-initiated affiliation to reduce the victim’s postconflict (PC) anxiety (i.e. ‘consolation’), (2) victim-initiated affiliation (i.e. ‘solicited consolation’), (3) victim- and bystander-initiated affiliation to avert redirected aggression (i.e. self-protection), and (4) bystander-initiated affiliation to exploit grooming from the victim. We found partial support for the consolation function as bystander-initiated affiliation occurred more frequently between high-quality social partners but had no effect on the victim’s PC anxiety. In support of the solicited-consolation function, victim-initiated affiliation occurred more frequently between high-quality social partners and also caused a reduction in the victim’s PC anxiety. These findings suggest that solicited consolation may substitute for the stress alleviation role of reconciliation. We found no support for a self-protective function as neither the bystander’s nor the victim’s risk of receiving PC aggression was reduced following bystander affiliation with the victim. Finally, bystanders received significantly more PC grooming than victims, suggesting that grooming exploitation of the victim may drive the bystander’s PC behaviour. Our results indicate that bystander affiliation has different functions and benefits for the victim of aggression and the bystander, and highlights the importance of considering which individual initiates this behaviour.

First, a conflict!

And then some peaceful grooming…

The “tyre” is a popular water source for both dogs and monkeys.

Recently, some of the females have given birth and now the place is crawling with puppies. Juveniles and infants have been especially intrigued by the new faces and approach quite close for a better look.

What are those things?

One day, one of the puppies seemed to have lost itself from its mother and the rest of the litter and kept calling out for its kin. The call attracted Galack, a young adult male as well as several other monkeys. Galack sat within a metre of the puppy, simply starring at it before deciding his time would be better spent foraging leaves of the surrounding bush.

Moments later some kids came, also attracted by the calling puppy. One of them threw a stick to scare the monkeys away and moved in to grab it. However, Galack and a few others were clearly not happy with this as they charged at the child with facial displays to scare him away. A few minutes later the same thing happened again which made me think that the monkeys were trying to scare the children away from the puppy.

A relieved mother returning its puppy to the others.

Why did Galack risk injury to protect the puppy from another species? It is really hard for scientists to really know what goes on inside a monkey’s (or any animal’s) head. How much of their behaviour is instinctive and how much of it actually goes through a thought process?

The cooperative behaviour between these dogs and the tourist group is really interesting. It would be wonderful if we could go inside their heads and work out what drives their behaviour.

Alan

In May, Els was actually in Azrou to start an educational program in several primary schools of the area and I had the chance to attend one of them. It is indeed surprising to realize that most of the time people living close to Barbary Macaques have a lot of wrong ideas about them. Thus, before the lesson, many children thought that young macaques were captured from the wild for circuses, or to reduce the damages they cause to the forest! Luckily, Els was here to help them understand the pet trade situation.

The three-hour lesson started with an educational film to give them general knowledge about Barbary macaque biology and a few numbers about their conservation status. After this first animation, the children were divided into different groups to play a game where they impersonate a macaque infant who has lost his group. They had to avoid the poachers and earn cards such as “water”, “food” or “healthy environment” to win the game. At the end, Els proposed a discussion with the class to test their new knowledge.

I was glad to see that the children were very enthusiastic about the lesson. They all listened carefully and participated throughout the event. It seems to me that the education program of the MPC was a real success, which gives me hope for the future of Barbary Macaques in Morocco. Thank you very much Els for letting me be a part of you great work. We are all waiting for you here in Azrou to hear about your latest progress. Good luck!

If you want more information about MPC actions, have a look at the website: http://www.mpcfoundation.nl.

Celia

Training. Top left: Kerry combines weightlifting with suckling: top right: Dakota arranges the infants to practice her hurdling; bottom left: a young rider is nearly dismounted; bottom right: Apollo shows off a little with a double carry

The infants spring, quite literally, to mind their great play sessions and tree sports could make them perfect contenders in the gymnastic events. Although some of their landings might lose them quite a few marks and drop them down the rankings!  The long jump could also be a great event but our team might need a platform to jump from such as a tree branch or old tree stump.

The relay race and the wheelbarrow were both cancelled due to safety concerns; while right: an infant gets artistic

The infants could also team up with their mother or a male to take part in the cross country equestrian. Infants love a piggy back, being carried along on an adults’ back, or sometimes less comfortably on their older siblings back, smaller bodies make smaller saddles.

Top: the infants and juveniles take any opportunity to practise their high jump; bottom left: Oz shows Lewis he still has a good spring in his old knees; bottom right: at least we know all the cameras would not cause stage fright for the Green Group.

As for the adult males, I think they would be most suited to some of the big power events although being quadripedal probably rules out shoulder movements for discus, shot put or javelin, chimpanzees seem more adept at throwing objects certainly. But with their large aggressions, often with ritualised behaviour I am sure they would do well at judo.

A previous blog showed Lewis perfecting the high jump: click here

We may have to include some new events for monkeys, however, as many human based events are difficult to replicate and Barbary macaques not big water fans so that would rule out many disciplines. How about synchronised suckling for Rebecca and her infant from the Green group? In the picture below looks like they would get gold. Poor Biggie from the Cèdre Gouraud group will either need to do some intensive fitness work in the next 4 years for Rio or hope they add in competitive eating or sumo for the next games.

Rebecca and her infant try the unusual synchronised suckle

We also must not forget that the unique high altitude of the Barbary macaque home-ranges make them one of the few primate species which could also enter the Winter Olympics!

The tough exterior of the Barbary macaque would make them ideal competitors for the Winter Olympic’s too

Feel free to add your own suggested events to the comments.

Chris