Hairy Tales and Monkey Business: The conservation value of children’s picture books used in conservation education programmes and picture books sold commercially with a focus on primates

Many conservation education programs utilize picture books to raise awareness, change attitudes, and promote positive conservation behavior. In this study, I analyzed children’s books used in primate conservation education programs, as well as commercially available children’s books about primates, in order to assess their educational efficacy. By scoring books based on their scientific accuracy, anthropomorphism, and ecophobia, as well as classifying them into developmental age categories, I found that conservation education books are more accurate than commercially available books about primates but that they are more ecophobic and this may impede their conservation success. In order to overcome the limitations of both conservation education picture books and commercial picture books as tools for conservation, I recommend collaboration between storybook writers and conservation educators

Hiding in the dark: Local ecological knowledge about slow loris in Sarawak sheds light on relationships between human populations and wild animals

Local ecological knowledge (LEK) increases understanding of certain species and the threats they face, especially little-studied taxa for which data on distribution and conservation are often lacking. We conducted 111 semi-structured interviews in Sarawak, Malaysia, to collect local knowledge about the behavior and distribution of the Philippine slow loris (Nycticebus menagensis) from two ethnic groups, the Iban and the Penan. Our study revealed that male Penan respondents, generally hunters, who frequently go into the forest were better at identifying animals from pictures. Overall, the Penan have a more detailed knowledge of slow loris behaviors, habitat, and distribution than the Iban. The two ethnic groups have different attitudes towards slow loris as the Penan hunt, eat, or keep them as pets while the Iban consider them sacred and signifiers of good luck. We advocate the use of LEK for providing complementary information to scientific methods in the study of cryptic animals

The use of ultrasonic communication to maintain social cohesion in the Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus)

Only a handful of primate taxa use ultrasonic vocalisations (those ≥20 kHz) to communicate. The extent and uses of ultrasonic communication remain poorly understood, potentially ranging from echolocation, advertisement of reproductive status and resource availability, social cohesion, to predator avoidance. Here, using active acoustics whereby the study subjects were observed throughout their activity period, we describe the first purely ultrasonic call from a strepsirrhine primate (family Lorisidae), recorded in a completely wild setting, and hypothesise about its function. We identified one type of ultrasonic call, the doublet click, from 14 Javan slow lorises (Nycticebus javanicus) produced by males and females of juvenile, subadult and adult ages within their social groups (n = 791, mean = 46.0 kHz). We ran quadratic discriminant function analysis, finding dominant frequency and doublet click duration as the key parameters for identifying individuals’ sex and age. Significantly more vocalisations were produced during affiliative social behaviour, suggesting that the call serves a social cohesion function. Considering the range of other cryptic behaviours, including slow and silent locomotion, and the high degree of territoriality associated with venomous attacks on conspecifics, the call may also serve as a safety strategy, allowing family members to regulate distance from other slow lorises and to communicate cryptically whilst avoiding predators

Trapping, collaring and monitoring the Lorisinae of Asia (Loris, Nycticebus) and Perodicticinae (Arctocebus, Perodicticus) of Africa

Nocturnal animals are difficult to see and follow, especially in dense rainforest conditions. Nocturnal research is fraught with difficulties not encountered by individuals who study animals in the day, from the need for expensive equipment, constant access to power supplies to run lights and potential for increased encounters with dangerous wildlife. The main drawback of nocturnal fieldwork is that it is simply more difficult to find and continuously observe an animal at night. Through hard work and perseverance it is possible to obtain ecological data on lorises and pottos in the absence of radio tracking (e.g. Das et al., 2014; Nekaris, 2001; Pliosungnoen et al., 2010). Much more detail can be obtained, however, through capturing, measuring, collaring and monitoring nocturnal primates. The essential nature of radio tracking for the study of the behaviour and ecology of nocturnal primates has been recognised since the 1970s (e.g. Charles-Dominique, 1977a; Charles-Dominique and Bearder, 1979), and is by most researchers considered a must for thorough research (Sterling et al., 2000). Radio-tracking studies of lorises and pottos remain limited (2000; Millspaugh and Marzluff, 2001). In this chapter, we review the methods for trapping and collaring slow lorises and pottos, as well as provide a case study of the importance of red light for observing their behaviour in a humane and productive manner

The use of live action, animation, and computer-generated imagery in the depiction of non-human primates in film

tle:014f50a8-3336-4e00-83f4-10e7bece37b0:afee126f-04b2-41a9-a6dd-b29b7c6c20ab:1For over 100 years, non-human primates (primates) have been a part of the now hundred-billion-dollar global film industry in a variety of capacities. Their use in the film industry is of concern due to the negative welfare effects on individuals, the potential for increased pet trade, and the conservation impacts of public perception. While the effects on human perception of using live primates in film have been studied, little research has been performed on their appearance in animation and none in computer-generated imagery (CGI). We aimed to investigate how the portrayal of primates varied between depiction medium types and how this related to the films’ performance with critics and in the box office. We observed 151 primates in 101 different English-speaking films that debuted between 2000 and 2019. For each appearance we recorded aspects of primate portrayals based on accuracy, anthropomorphism, environment, and agency displayed, along with the depiction medium. We used structural equation models to depict the highest likelihood of the portrayal aspects on the medium’s relationship to the films gross profit worldwide and film critic consensus scores. We found that over the 20-year time frame, use of live primates has decreased, CGI has increased, and animations have remained relatively steady. While animation had no significant relationship to gross profit or critic consensus, both were significantly lower for films that used live primates and were significantly higher for films that used CGI primates. Due to the steady increase in the use of the CGI medium and its positive relationship with gross profit and critic consensus, it could have great effects on people’s perceptions of primates and implications for conservation efforts

Artificial canopy bridges improve connectivity in fragmented landscapes: The case of Javan slow lorises in an agroforest environment

Canopy bridges are increasingly used to reduce fragmentation in tropical habitats yet monitoring of their impact on the behavior of primates remains limited. The Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus) is endemic to Java, Indonesia, where the species most often occurs in human-dominated, highly patchy landscapes. Slow lorises cannot leap, are highly arboreally adapted, and are vulnerable on the ground. To increase arboreal connectivity, as part of a long-term conservation project in Cipaganti, West Java, we built and monitored seven slow lorises bridges of two types – waterline or rubber – and monitored their use by seven adult individuals from 2016-2017. Motion triggered camera traps collected data for 195 ± SD 85 days on each bridge. We collected 341.76 hours (179.67 h before and 162.09 h after the installation of bridges) of behavioral and home range data via instantaneous sampling every 5-min, and terrestrial behavior (distance and duration of time spent on the ground) via all occurrences sampling. We found that slow lorises used bridges on average 12.9 ± SD 9.7 days after their instalment mainly for travelling. Slow lorises showed a trend towards an increase in their home range size (2.57 ha before, 4.11 ha after; p=0.063) and reduced ground use (5.98 s/h before, 0.43 s/h; p=0.063) after implementation of bridges. Although the number of feeding trees did not change, new feeding trees were included in the home range, and the proportion of data points spent travelling and exploring significantly decreased (p=0.018). Waterline bridges serve a purpose to irrigate the crops of local farmers who thus help to maintain the bridges, and also ascribe value to the presence of slow lorises. Other endemic mammal species also used the bridges. We advocate the use and monitoring of artificial canopy bridges as an important supplement for habitat connectivity in conservation interventions

Applications of accelerometers and other bio-logging devices in captive and wild animals

Bio-logging devices have been widely used in ecology across a range of species to acquire information on the secret lives of animals in the wild, which would otherwise be challenging to obtain via direct observations [...

COVID-19’s impact on the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance : challenging times and resilience from its members

The worldwide pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 challenged conservation organizations. The lack of tourism has benefited or negatively affected wildlife organizations in various ways, with several primate sanctuaries struggling to cope with the COVID-19 crisis and to keep providing for their inhabitants. In addition, the genetic similarity between great apes and humans puts them at higher risk than any other species for the transmission of COVID-19. PASA is a non-profit organization comprising 23 sanctuaries, and cares for many species of primate, including African great apes. In light of the pandemic, we aimed to understand the direct effects of COVID-19 on PASA management throughout three time periods: before (2018–2019), at the start of (2019–2020), and during (2020–2021) the pandemic. We collected data via annual surveys for PASA members and ran Generalized Linear Mixed Models to highlight any significant differences in their management that could be linked to COVID-19. Our findings demonstrated no particular impact on the number of primates rescued, employees, or expenses. However, revenues have been decreasing post-COVID-19 due to the lack of income from tourism and volunteer programs. Nonetheless, our results reveal a form of resilience regarding the sanctuaries and the strategy applied to maintain their management. Consequently, we emphasize the specific impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak and its repercussions for conservation work. We discuss the difficulties that sanctuaries have faced throughout the crisis and present the best measures to prevent future outbreaks and protect biodiversity