|
By Grace Chua
A MONKEY scampered up to a woman at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and snatched the sandwich right out of her hand. She shrieked and backed away.
'Did you see that?' asked primate researcher Michael Gumert, who has been observing the troop of long-tailed macaques roaming the park.
Such incidents are a perennial problem for park visitors; those who live nearby have even had food stolen from their kitchens.
In answer to the call by scientists and conservationists for more research into local monkey populations in order to understand their behaviour, a new research grant programme has been launched.
The Primate Research Initiative, unveiled yesterday, is funded by a conservation group, the Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore).
Dr Goodall, an eminent conservationist and chimpanzee researcher, said yesterday that the initiative will help conservation, and, it is hoped, will 'set some young people on a career in research'.
The grants for primate-related research projects will be between $1,000 and $5,000.
Singapore-based students, post-doctoral fellows and other researchers are invited to apply for these from the third quarter of this year.
Dr Gumert of Nanyang Technological University's psychology division, has, with Mr John Sha, formerly of the National Parks Board, added to the body of knowledge on the long-tailed macaques here; they have had two papers published, one in the American Journal of Primatology and the other in Biodiversity & Conservation.
The team found, for instance, that the island has 1,500 macaques - not a particularly large population - but because these primates live along forest edges, they are especially visible.
'People think there are lots of monkeys based on the number of sightings rather than actual population count,' he said.
He also found that two in three close encounters between macaques and humans took place when the human was carrying food or something that looked like food; another one-quarter of incidents happened when someone provoked the animal.
But despite the fear or irritation these incidents cause, more than 430 out of 500 people polled here think it is important to protect the animals.
Programmes like the Primate Research Initiative are important as much remains to be found out about the animals' behaviour, Dr Gumert said.
'Even the best primatologists may know just 40 to 50 per cent of why the animals do what they do,' he added.
So far, he and his students have studied a particular troop of about 55 animals.
He would like to find out how individuals' ranks in the group, their blood ties and facial 'attractiveness' shape their social behaviour.
He believes that his study of Thai macaques using stones to crack open clams and snails may shed light on how prehistoric humans came to use tools.
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
| 
