TY - JOUR
T1 - Reaction to snakes in wild moor macaques (Macaca maura)
AU - Hernández Tienda, Clara
AU - Beltrán Francés, Víctor
AU - Majolo, Bonaventura
AU - Romero, Teresa
AU - Illa Maulany, Risma
AU - Oka Ngakan, Putu
AU - Amici, Federica
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Jose Gómez-Melara and Elisa Gregorio Hernández for their help during data collection. We thank all of the villagers around the field site who provided information about the abundance of snakes in the area and the Kementarian Negara Riset dan Teknologi Republik Indonesia (RISTEK) for permission to conduct research in Indonesia (Permit ID 1560845770). This work was conducted while FA held a research grant by the German Research Foundation (AM 409/4–1).
Funding Information:
We are grateful to Jose G?mez-Melara and Elisa Gregorio Hern?ndez for their help during data collection. We thank all of the villagers around the field site who provided information about the abundance of snakes in the area and the Kementarian Negara Riset dan Teknologi Republik Indonesia (RISTEK) for permission to conduct research in Indonesia (Permit ID 1560845770). This work was conducted while FA held a research grant by the German Research Foundation (AM 409/4?1).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/8/1
Y1 - 2021/8/1
N2 - Snake predation is considered an important evolutionary force for primates. Yet, very few studies have documented encounters between primates and snakes in the wild. Here, we provide a preliminary account of how wild moor macaques (Macaca maura) respond to seven species of real and model snakes. Snakes could be local and dangerous to the macaques (i.e., venomous or constricting), local and nondangerous, and novel and dangerous. Macaques reacted most strongly to constrictors (i.e., pythons), exploring them and producing alarm calls, and partially to vipers (both local and novel), exploring them but producing no alarm calls. However, they did not react to other dangerous (i.e., king cobra) or nondangerous species. Our results suggest that moor macaques discriminate local dangerous snakes from nondangerous ones, and may use specific cues (e.g., triangular head shape) to generalize their previous experience with vipers to novel species.
AB - Snake predation is considered an important evolutionary force for primates. Yet, very few studies have documented encounters between primates and snakes in the wild. Here, we provide a preliminary account of how wild moor macaques (Macaca maura) respond to seven species of real and model snakes. Snakes could be local and dangerous to the macaques (i.e., venomous or constricting), local and nondangerous, and novel and dangerous. Macaques reacted most strongly to constrictors (i.e., pythons), exploring them and producing alarm calls, and partially to vipers (both local and novel), exploring them but producing no alarm calls. However, they did not react to other dangerous (i.e., king cobra) or nondangerous species. Our results suggest that moor macaques discriminate local dangerous snakes from nondangerous ones, and may use specific cues (e.g., triangular head shape) to generalize their previous experience with vipers to novel species.
KW - Pythons
KW - Snakes
KW - Vipers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110278164&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10764-021-00230-6
DO - 10.1007/s10764-021-00230-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110278164
SN - 0164-0291
VL - 42
SP - 528
EP - 532
JO - International Journal of Primatology
JF - International Journal of Primatology
IS - 4
ER -