Human-Long Tailed Macaque Coexistence: The Case of Bali

Coexistence between humans and wildlife is one of the major challenges to biodiversity conservation. In addition to protected areas, a complementary option relies on sharing space, i.e., tolerating wildlife living alongside human populations in interface zones. In Bali, Indonesia, humans and long-tailed macaques (LTM, Macaca fascicularis) already have a long history of coexistence. The synanthropic nature of this primate species enables it to exploit diverse habitat types, including forest edges and urban landscapes. This trend results in a visibility bias in human areas where LTM populations thrive sometimes in high demographic density, even though the global population trend is dramatically declining. The goal of this presentation is to provide an overview of the long-tailed macaque situation in Bali and review the influence of anthropogenic factors on their behavioural ecology. First, we demonstrate that proximity to human settlements is the most influential factor in the process of sleeping site selection by LTM living at forest edges. Second, we show how human-food provisioning in tourist sites contributes to inflate locally the size of populations, a local phenomenon associated with increased risks of social tension among macaques and human-macaque conflict. Finally, we provide an evidence-based strategy to control locally and ethically the size of LTM populations through sterilization program while emphasizing the implications for conflict mitigation.