Feeding Wildlife More Detrimental To Animals Than Previously Thought

A new study found that people's practice of feeding wildlife might be more detrimental to animals than previously thought. Evidently, the practice tends to disrupt crucial social bonds within animal communities.

Roadside Monkeys

In South Sulawesi, Indonesia, moor macaque monkeys often gather along a busy provincial road where they wait for the motorists who give them food. Typically, wild monkeys are quite cautious around humans but such human-wildlife interactions are actually increasing all over the world.

For a new study, the researchers wanted to identify the factors that influence some monkeys to interact with humans and, how these interactions affect their social networks. The researchers also wanted to see whether their social relationships affect the amount of time they spent on the roadside.

To find out, the researchers collected data on a group of moor macaques for six hours per day, six days a week from August 2016 to January 2017. The researchers scanned the group every 30 minutes and recorded each individual macaque's location and behaviors.

Overall, the researchers followed the macaque study group for 565.8 hours and incurred over 1,200 scan samples.

Lesser Social Interaction

The researchers observed that the study group was present along the road in 19.8 percent of all scan samples at various times of the day and, many of them actively engaged with people. In particular, the males were more likely to approach the humans while the macaques who have greater influence within the group tended to visit the roadside more frequently.

"These results suggest that the macaques are not merely habituated to human presence, but rather, are attracted to humans due to the food rewards obtained from provisioning," the researchers wrote.

Unfortunately, while the monkeys are on the roadside, there were fewer positive interactions within the group such as grooming or resting near each other. Since these interactions serve as the foundation for a strong community, disruptions could lead to negative impacts on crucial factors such as the animals' health, reproductive success, life span, and infant survival.

Human Contribution

These close human-wildlife interactions could end up disrupting the social structures of monkey communities over time. As such, perhaps tackling the humans' contribution to the issue could minimize or lessen the detrimental effects.

"Our results suggest that moor macaques are attracted to the road because they perceive that the benefit of receiving food provisions outweighs any risks associated with being in close proximity to people and moving vehicles," senior author Erin Riley of San Diego State University said. "This finding suggests that a macaque-focused approach to managing this interface may be ineffective. Instead, efforts are likely better focused on changing people's behavior by expanding their knowledge of the negative effects of feeding the macaques and why protecting them is important."

The study is published in Nature Scientific Reports.