Study On Human-macaque Interactions In Wulongkou Area,Jiyuan,China

Non-human primates are the most advanced groups in the animal kingdom and are most closely related to humans.Their shapes and behaviors are highly similar to humans.Therefore,they have become one of the main wild animal groups that the public prefer to watch.Rhesus macaque(Macaca mulatta),as a representative species of the Macaca,is the most widely distributed non-human primate.It has become a nature reserve because of its diverse behaviors,vigorous posture,rich expressions,and high IQ.Zoos and other tourist areas are important viewing resources,and eco-tourism activities based on wild macaque groups have flourished in recent years.With the increase of people’s participation in eco-tourism activities,the problem of humanmacaque conflict has become more and more prominent,especially for tourism activities involving human-macaque interaction scenes,and safety issues have been highly valued by people.The research on human-macaque interactions is not only an in-depth understanding of the human-macaque relationship in eco-tourism areas,but also provides an important reference for the improvement of people’s awareness of public safety.The Taihangshan macaques belong to the North China subspecies of macaque(M.m.tcheliensis),which is unique to China.In order to explore the characteristics of human-macaque interactions in the eco-tourism area,from September 2019 to August2020,the Taihangshan macaques WLK-1A group and human in Wulongkou area of Jiyuan,Henan Province were taken as the objects,and the occurrence of the interaction between the two was observed and recorded,the behavior type,the actor and genderage group,the time and cause of the behavior,the number and composition of human,etc.,analyze the characteristics of the behavior type of human-macaque interactions,gender-age bias,the pattern of occurrence,and the interaction between environmental factors and human factors the impact of the behavior,etc.The main contents and results of this research are as follows:1.Study on the characteristics of human-macaque interactionsFrom September 2019 to August 2020,the analysis of the interaction behavior characteristics of Troop WLK-1A of Taihangshan macaques and tourists in Wulongkou area found that: 1)Human interaction initiated by human agents were higher than those initiated by macaques;2)With human as the main agent,the interaction of middle-aged males and females to each sex age group of rhesus monkeys in each season were more than those of other sex age groups of human,and the interaction of adult females in each sex age group of human were more than those of other sex age group of rhesus monkeys;3)With macaque as the main agent,in each season,adult females and males showed more interaction to tourist age groups of each sex than to other age groups of rhesus monkeys,and rhesus monkeys showed more interaction to middle-aged male and female human in each age group than to other age groups of human.2.Study on human-induced human-macacaque interactionsFrom September 2019 to August 2020,the types of human-macaque interactions and activity patterns issued by tourists in the Wulongkou area of Jiyuan as the main body of action were analyzed,and the results showed that: 1)There were significant differences among the 10 interaction types of human(all p < 0.01);2)Middle-aged men had the most interaction behaviors of AGI and AGIII,middle-aged women had the most interaction behaviors of AGI,young women had the most interaction behaviors of AGI,and young men had AGI and AGIII.The level of interaction behavior was the most,the AGI and AGIII level interaction behaviors issued by underage men were the most,the AGI level exposure behaviors issued by underage women were the most,the elderly men had the most AGI level interaction behaviors,and the elderly women had the most AGI and AGIII level interaction behaviors;3)The human-macaque interactions were mainly at 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning and 14:00 and 15:00 in the afternoon;4)Human as the agent of the physical interaction occurred in March,May,September a higher proportion,nonphysical interaction occurred in July,August,September a higher proportion;5)Human as the agent of the physical interaction occurred the highest in spring,the lowest in winter,nonphysical interaction occurred the highest in autumn,the lowest in winter.3.Study on macaque-induced human-macaque interactionsFrom September 2019 to August 2020,the interaction types and activity patterns of WLK-1A group Taihangshan macaques were analyzed.The results showed that: 1)There were significant differences among the 15 interaction types of Troop WLK-1A of Taihangshan macaques(all p < 0.01);2)Adult males had the most interaction behaviors of AGⅢ and AGⅤ,adult females had the most interaction behaviors of AGⅢ,adolescents had the most AGⅡ interaction behaviors,and sub-adults had the most AGⅡ level.The most interaction behaviors of infant monkeys,and the most interaction behaviors of AGⅡ level issued by infant monkeys;3)The human-macaque interactions were mainly at 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning and 14:00 and 15:00 in the afternoon;4)The proportion of physical interaction in August,September and October was higher among Taihangshan macaques,while the proportion of nonphysical interaction in July,August and September was higher;5)The physical interaction between human and Taihangshan macaques was the highest in autumn and the lowest in winter,while the nonphysical interaction was the highest in summer and the lowest in winter.4.Analysis on influential factors of human-macaque interactionsFrom September 2019 to August 2020,the analysis of the influencing factors of the interaction of tourists in WLK-1A group and scenic spots showed that: 1)The monthly physical interaction and nonphysical interaction of human-macaque were significantly correlated with the monthly average high temperature,the monthly average low temperature and the monthly average temperature(all p < 0.01);2)Human were used as the main agent,there was no correlation between physical interaction and nonphysical interaction and monthly mean precipitation(all p > 0.05);Taihangshan macaques were used as the main agent,physical interaction and monthly mean precipitation(p < 0.05),but nonphysical interaction and average monthly precipitation(p < 0.01)was highly significant;3)The number of human-macaque physical interactions and the number of human(p < 0.01),the number of nonphysical interactions was significantly correlated with the number of human(p > 0.05)there was no significant correlation;4)The number of human-macaque interactions during holidays and weekends was significantly higher than that during weekdays(all p < 0.05);There was no significant difference in the amount of interaction between human and macaque during holidays and weekends(p > 0.05);5)There were extremely significant differences among the inducing factors that affect the occurrence of humanmacaque interactions(all p < 0.01).Among them,food was the most important inducing factor.