Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sanctuary in the City: Urban Monkeys Buffered against Catastrophic Die-off during ENSO-related Drought

EcoHealth volume 4, pages 278–286 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Large-scale climatic drivers such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) can overwhelm factors that ordinarily govern local population dynamics. We recently documented an ENSO-related die-off of mammals in the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS), Rajasthan, India. This die-off coincided with the La Niña-induced drought of 2000, which followed two consecutive monsoon failures. Hanuman langurs suffered a population crash of nearly 50% from 1999 to 2001. A Multivariate ENSO Index explained 80% of the variability in population size during the time series, and predicted the mass mortality and/or recruitment failure associated with the major La Niña event spanning 1999. Here, we ask whether langurs in a large Rajasthani city, Jodhpur, were buffered against drought because humans provisioned them with food—for religious reasons. Unlike the KWS population, the Jodhpur population suffered no significant decline. In 2001, this urban population remained 95% as large as in 1999, before the drought. Variability in population size was also vastly reduced in Jodhpur. Thus, the impact of drought was dampened in a major urban area compared with an officially protected area. In this case, high human population density was not anathema for conservation. Wildlife sanctuaries in protected areas are undeniably important conservation tools, but our findings reinforce the notion that cities can serve as de facto sanctuaries for some species. This study provides some hope for biodiversity conservation in a rapidly urbanizing world, particularly for holy and commensal species.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Figure 1.
Figure 2.

References

  • Andersson E (2006) Urban landscapes and sustainable cities. Ecology and Society 11:34. Available at: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art34/ [accessed January 15, 2007]

  • Balmford A, Bond W (2005) Trends in the state of nature and their implications for human well-being. Ecology Letters 8:1218–1234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biquand S, Boug A, Biquand-Guyot V, Gautier JP (1994) Management of commensal baboons in Saudi Arabia. Revue d’Ecologie–La Terre et al Vie 49:213–222

    Google Scholar 

  • Borries C, Launhardt K, Epplen C, Epplen JT, Winkler P (1999) DNA analyses support the hypothesis that infanticide is adaptive in langur monkeys. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 266:901–904

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boulton AM, Horrocks JA, Baulu J (1996) The Barbados vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus): changes in population size and crop damage, 1980–1994. International Journal of Primatology 17:831–844

    Google Scholar 

  • Brashares JS, Arcese P, Sam MK (2001) Human demography and reserve size predict wildlife extinction in West Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 268:2473–2478

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: A Practical Information–Theoretic Approach, 2nd ed.. New York: Springer

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardillo M, Mace GM, Jones KE, Bielby J, Bininda-Emonds ORP, Sechrest W, et al. (2005) Multiple causes of high extinction risk in large mammal species. Science 309:1239–1241

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cardillo M, Purvis A, Sechrest W, Gittleman JL, Bielby J, Mace GM (2004) Human population density and extinction risk in the world’s carnivores. Public Library of Science, Biology 2:909–914

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cleary DFR, Fauvelot C, Genner MJ, Menken SBJ, Mooers AØ (2006) Parallel responses of species and genetic diversity to El Niño Southern Oscillation-induced environmental destruction. Ecology Letters 9:301–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook WM, Faeth SH (2006) Irrigation and land use drive ground arthropod community patterns in an urban desert. Environmental Entomology 35:1532–1540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daniels GD, Kirkpatrick JB (2006) Does variation in garden characteristics influence the conservation of birds in suburbia? Biological Conservation 133:326–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobson AP, Lyles AM (1989) The population dynamics and conservation of primate populations. Conservation Biology 3:362–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engeman R, Whisson D, Quinn J, Cano F, Quinones P, White TH (2006) Monitoring invasive mammalian predator populations sharing habitat with the critically endangered Puerto Rican parrot Amazona vittata. Oryx 40:95–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eudey AA (1994) Temple and pet primates in Thailand. Revue d’Ecologie–La Terre et la Vie 49:273–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Foley P (1994) Predicting extinction times from environmental stochasticity and carrying capacity. Conservation Biology 8:124–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes A (2006) Human culture and monkey behavior: assessing the contexts of potential pathogen transmission between macaques and humans. American Journal of Primatology 68:880–896

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaston KJ (2005) Biodiversity and extinction: species and people. Progress in Physical Geography 29:239–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison RD (2000) Repercussions of El Niño: drought causes extinction and the breakdown of mutualism in Borneo. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 267:911–915

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hill CM (2000) Conflict of interest between people and baboons: Crop raiding in Uganda. International Journal of Primatology 21:299–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill CM (2002) Primate conservation and local communities—ethical issues and debates. American Anthropologist 104:1184–1194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hrdy SB (1974) Male-male competition and infanticide among the langurs (Presbytis entellus) of Abu, Rajasthan. Folia Primatologia 22:19–58

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jolly A, Dobson A, Rasamimanana HM, Walker J, O’Connor S, Solberg M, et al. (2002) Demography of Lemur catta at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar: effects of troop size, habitat and rainfall. International Journal of Primatology 23:327–353

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones-Engel L, Engel GA, Heidrich J, Chalise M, Poudel N, Viscidi R, et al. (2006) Temple monkeys and health implications of commensalism, Kathmandu, Nepal. Emerging Infectious Diseases 12:900–906

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight J (1999) Monkeys on the move: the natural symbolism of people–macaque conflict in Japan. The Journal of Asian Studies 58:622–664

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koenig A, Borries C (2001) Socioecology of Hanuman langurs: the story of their success. Evolutionary Anthropology 10:122–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima M, Stenseth NC, Jaksic FM (2002) Food web structure and climate effects on the dynamics of small mammals and owls in semi-arid Chile. Ecology Letters 5:273–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotts KC, Waite TA, Vucetich JA (2004) Reliability of absolute and relative predictions of population persistence based on time series. Conservation Biology 18:1224–1232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luck GW, Ricketts TH, Daily GC, Imhoff M (2004) Alleviating spatial conflict between people and biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 101:182–186

  • Marzluff JM, Bowman R, Donnelly R (2001) Avian Conservation and Ecology in an Urbanizing World, Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller JR, Hobbs RJ (2002) Conservation where people live and work. Conservation Biology 16:330–337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nandi JS, Bhavalkar-Potdar V, Tikute S, Rautt CG (2000) A novel type D simian retrovirus naturally infecting the Indian Hanuman langur (Semnopithecus entellus). Virology 277:6–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Naughton-Treves L, Treves A, Chapman C, Wrangham R (1998) Temporal patterns of crop-raiding by primates: linking food availability in croplands and adjacent forest. Journal of Applied Ecology 35:596–606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan RL, Oxnard C (2003) Dental variation among Asian colobines (nonhuman primates): phylogenetic similarities or functional correspondence? Zoological Studies 42:93–105

    Google Scholar 

  • Rajpurohit LS, Chhangani AK, Mohnot SM (2006) Population dynamics of Hanuman langur, Semnopithecus entellus around Jodhpur (India) during 1995–2001. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, India 76:141–147

  • Ramp D, Wilson VK, Croft DB (2006) Assessing the impacts of roads in peri-urban reserves: road-based fatalities and road usage by wildlife in the Royal National Park, New South Wales, Australia. Biological Conservation 129:348–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed DH, O’Grady JJ, Ballou JD, Frankham R (2003) The frequency and severity of catastrophic die-offs in vertebrates. Animal Conservation 6:109–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riley SPD, Foley J, Chomel B (2004) Exposure to feline and canine pathogens in bobcats and gray foxes in urban and rural zones of a National Park in California. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 40:11–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig ML (2003) Win–Win Ecology: How the Earth’s Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise, New York: Oxford University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross C, Srivastava A, Pirta RS (1993) Human influences on the population density of Hanuman langurs Presbytis entellus and Rhesus macaques Macaca mulatta in Shimla, India. Biological Conservation 65:159–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saj TL, Sicotte P, Paterson JD (2001) The conflict between vervet monkeys and farmers at the forest edge in Entebbe, Uganda. African Journal of Ecology 39:195–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schillaci MA, Jones-Engel L, Engel GA, Kyes RC (2006) Exposure to human respiratory viruses among urban performing monkeys in Indonesia. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 75:716–719

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh H, Mishra D, Nahar NM, Ranjan M (2003) Energy use pattern in production agriculture of a typical village in and zone India: part II. Energy Conversion and Management 44:1053–1067

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh M, Rao NR (2004) Population dynamics and conservation of commensal Bonnet macaques. International Journal of Primatology 25:847–859

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sitati NW, Walpole MJ (2006) Assessing farm-based measures for mitigating human–elephant conflict in Transmara District, Kenya. Oryx 40:279–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Southwick CH, Siddiqi MF (1994) Primate commensalism: the rhesus monkey in India. Revue d’Ecologie–La Terre et al Vie 49:223–231

    Google Scholar 

  • SPSS (2005) SPSS, version 14.0, Chicago: SPSS, Inc

  • SYSTAT (2004) SYSTAT, version 11.00.01, Richmond: SYSTAT Software, Inc

  • Thomas CD, Cameron A, Green RE, Bakkenes M, Beaumont LJ, Collingham YC, et al. (2004) Extinction risk from climate change. Nature 427:145–148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tomalin E (2004) Bio-divinity and biodiversity: perspectives on religion and environmental conservation in India. Numen-International Review for the History of Religions 51:265–295

    Google Scholar 

  • UNEP–WCMC (2006) World Database on Protected Areas. Available at: http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/wdbpa [accessed January 7, 2007]

  • Vucetich JA, Smith DW, Stahler DR (2005) Influence of harvest, climate and wolf predation on Yellowstone elk, 1961–2004. Oikos 111:259–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vucetich JA, Waite TA (1998) On the interpretation and application of mean times to extinction. Biodiversity Conservation 7:1539–1547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waite TA, Campbell LG, Chhangani AK, Robbins P (2007) La Niña’s signature: synchronous decline of the mammal community in a ‘protected’ area in India. Divers Distrib (in press)

  • Waite TA (2007) Revisiting evidence for sustainability of bushmeat hunting in West Africa. Environ Manage (in press)

  • Waite TA, Strickland D (2006) Climate change and the demographic demise of a hoarding bird living on the edge. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 273:2809–2813

    Google Scholar 

  • West P, Igoe J, Brockington D (2006) Parks and peoples: the social impact of protected areas. Annual Review of Anthropology 35:251–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheatley BP, Putra DKH (1994) The effects of tourism on conservation at The Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali. Revue D’Ecology–La Terre et la Vie 49:245–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiley JP (1999) It’s fun—and a real pain—when monkeys move to town. Smithsonian 29:102–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Willis MS, Swindler DR (2004) Molar size and shape variations among Asian colobines. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 125:51–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilmers CC, Post E, Peterson RO, Vucetich JA (2006) Predator disease out-break modulates top-down, bottom-up and climatic effects on herbivore population dynamics. Ecology Letters 9:383–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank R. Malhotra, PCCF, L. Ranawat, and B. Singh, ACF, for granting permission to work in KWS; USFWS and Ministry of Environment and Forests for supporting the Indo–US Primate Project; D. Ferguson and C. Southwick for advice; P. Robbins for related collaboration; many support personnel; and S. Corey and two reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by NSF grant 0351037.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Tom A. Waite & Lesley G. Campbell

  2. Primate Research Center, 396, 3rd C Road, Sardarpura, Jodhpur, 342001, India

    Anil K. Chhangani, Lal S. Rajpurohit & Surendra M. Mohnot

  3. The School of Desert Sciences, 109, Nehru Park, Jodhpur, 342001, India

    Anil K. Chhangani & Surendra M. Mohnot

Authors
  1. Tom A. Waite
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anil K. Chhangani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lesley G. Campbell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lal S. Rajpurohit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Surendra M. Mohnot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tom A. Waite.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Waite, T.A., Chhangani, A.K., Campbell, L.G. et al. Sanctuary in the City: Urban Monkeys Buffered against Catastrophic Die-off during ENSO-related Drought. EcoHealth 4, 278–286 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-007-0112-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-007-0112-6

Keywords

search

Navigation