School of Natural Sciences and Engineering

The human–primate interface in the New Normal: Challenges and opportunities for primatologists in the COVID‐19 era and beyond

In this commentary, authors identified challenges and opportunities at human-primate interfaces in light of COVID-19, focusing on examples from Asia, and make recommendations for researchers working with wild primates to reduce zoonosis risk and leverage research opportunities.

Using conditioned taste aversion to reduce human-nonhuman primate conflict: A comparison of four potentially illness-inducing drugs

This study deals with human-wildlife conflict in the form of crop-and livestockdepredation and exploits Conditioned Taste Aversion (CTA) strategy, a non-lethal and effective method to control crop damage caused by vertebrate pests, to reduce crop damage.

Elephants on the Move: Implications for Human–Elephant Interactions

In this chapter, using empirical data, the authors assess the behavioural adaptability of elephants, as determined by their innate biological variables, such as age, sex and grouping patterns at the population level. They also discuss the impacts of global climatic changes on the behaviour and distribution of Asian elephants, as evidenced through studies conducted on these aspects.

'The Bold are the Sociable’: Personality traits and laterality in an indigenous megafish, the Deccan Mahseer (Tor khudree)

This study explored the relationships between the personality traits boldness, activity, exploration, and sociability, and lateralized utilisation of brain hemispheres in the hatchery-reared juveniles of Deccan Mahseer (Tor khudree), an endangered megafish inhabiting the rivers of central and southern India.

The Elephant in the Room: Methods, challenges and concerns in the monitoring of Asian elephant populations

Increasing anthropogenic pressures has led to the fragmentation of Asian elephant habitats, affecting their numbers, demography and ranging patterns across their range. Baseline information on the demography and population dynamics of free-ranging Asian elephants is often unavailable. Population monitoring at the landscape level has many constraints, including those of visibility, habitat, terrain and field logistics, among several others.

Chronic extraction of forest resources is threatening a unique wildlife habitat of the Upper Brahmaputra Valley, northeastern India

This study examines the extent and nature of harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFP) by local human communities residing adjacent to the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in the Upper Brahmaputra Valley of Assam, northeastern India.

Why do people visit primate tourism sites? Investigating macaque tourism in Japan and Indonesia

This study presented two case studies—the Jigokudani Monkey Park, Japan, and the Telaga Warna Nature Recreational Park, Indonesia—where the authors provided quantitative assessments of people’s motivations for visiting managed (monkey parks) and unmanaged (incidental) monkey tourism sites. They further showed that management regimes, socio-demographic attributes, previous experience of interactions with macaques, and feeding them play a role in people’s desire to visit macaque tourism sites.