Our study (Waterman et al 2019) shows that macaques make many behavioural adjustments in response to varying levels of human activity. Macaques balance food acquisition and risk avoidance – for example they minimise risk by avoiding areas used by local shepherds and their dogs (which are now among the monkeys’ most dangerous predators), and exploit […]
Publication
Reducing the potential risk of primate tourism
New study: preventing disease transmission between tourists and Barbary macaques There is an increased risk of disease transmission between humans and wild animals when tourists come into close proximity (< 10 meters) or in contact with these animals, for example by feeding them. This can have serious impacts for the health of both tourists and […]
Preventing monkey bites
Wildlife tourists frequently fail to identify aggressive and distressed emotional states in wild monkeys – mistaking animals’ warnings of aggression for ‘smiles’ and ‘kisses’. This can lead to welfare problems for primates and risk of injury for people. In our new paper we examined whether educational tools intended to help tourists recognise different facial expressions in monkeys – […]
Metabolic flexibility of Barbary macaques
The endangered Barbary macaques have to cope with extreme environmental conditions, from cold and snowy winters to hot and dry summers. Under these extreme and diverse ecological conditions full-filling their daily energetic requirements may be very difficult for macaques. We have recently published a study that analyse the metabolic strategies of Barbary macaques in response […]
Why grooming is good for you
Our team has recently published two studies on the benefits of grooming exchange in Barbary macaques. Grooming is intensely studied by primatologists as a model behaviour to analyse the benefits of sociality. In our first study (Molesti & Majolo 2015) we found that grooming did not increase food tolerance soon after a grooming interaction ended. This […]