How Living Near Humans Affects Singapore’s Urban Macaques

Long-tailed macaques commonly live near human settlements in Southeast Asia and Singapore is one example of such an interface. In 2011 and 2012, we conducted a census for Singapore’s National Parks Board (NParks), during which we collected behavioral, demographic, and ranging data. We used these data to examine how the presence of humans and access to human food related to changes in the macaques’ time budget, ranging behavior, and group size. We found that human presence was associated with decreased traveling rates, decreased arboreality, increased terrestriality, and increased use of human-made substrates. In particular, access to human food was associated with larger macaque group sizes, decreased arboreality, and increased use of human-made structures. Our results demonstrate how living near humans in an intensely urban habitat impacts macaques. Perhaps with better knowledge of how humans affect urban macaques, we can better plan management strategies to mitigate conflict. We discuss some nonlethal strategies for managing Singapore’s human–macaque interface that could potentially reduce human–macaque conflict. Specifically, we recommend consistent enforcement of an existing feeding ban, the employment of security guards to mitigate conflict in particularly problematic areas, and the expansion of existing education programs for local people and tourists.