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Demography and Birth Seasonality in the Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis Umbrosus)


Affiliations
1 Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty (Post), Coimbatore 641 108, India
2 Biopsychology Laboratory and Institution of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru 570 006, India
 

The Nicobar long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis umbrosus) is confined to the southern and central Nicobar archipelago. We have collected demographic and birth data for five groups of M. f. umbrosus to understand their group structure, demography and breeding seasonality. Group size, individuals in age–sex classes and age–sex ratio did not vary between the groups and years. The birth rate was neither associated with the number of adult females in the group nor with group size. The number of births in a month was positively correlated with rainfall, and about 71% of the births occurred during the rainy season, though, the number of births did not vary systematically among the months. Perhaps, higher availability of food resources in the wet season than the rest of the year may support lactation in females and provide food for the weaned infants. The similarity in some demographic traits between the Nicobar long-tailed macaque and other subspecies indicates that these traits may be conserved over evolutionary time, while for other traits, differences among subspecies may reflect the effect of local conditions and recent histories. This is the first report on demography and birth seasonality of this unique subspecies of the long-tailed macaque.

Keywords

Birth Rate, Demography, Group Size, Population Dynamics.
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  • Demography and Birth Seasonality in the Nicobar Long-Tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis Umbrosus)

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Authors

Arijit Pal
Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty (Post), Coimbatore 641 108, India
Honnavalli N. Kumara
Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty (Post), Coimbatore 641 108, India
Avadhoot D. Velankar
Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty (Post), Coimbatore 641 108, India
Partha Sarathi Mishra
Biopsychology Laboratory and Institution of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru 570 006, India
Mewa Singh
Biopsychology Laboratory and Institution of Excellence, University of Mysore, Mysuru 570 006, India

Abstract


The Nicobar long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis umbrosus) is confined to the southern and central Nicobar archipelago. We have collected demographic and birth data for five groups of M. f. umbrosus to understand their group structure, demography and breeding seasonality. Group size, individuals in age–sex classes and age–sex ratio did not vary between the groups and years. The birth rate was neither associated with the number of adult females in the group nor with group size. The number of births in a month was positively correlated with rainfall, and about 71% of the births occurred during the rainy season, though, the number of births did not vary systematically among the months. Perhaps, higher availability of food resources in the wet season than the rest of the year may support lactation in females and provide food for the weaned infants. The similarity in some demographic traits between the Nicobar long-tailed macaque and other subspecies indicates that these traits may be conserved over evolutionary time, while for other traits, differences among subspecies may reflect the effect of local conditions and recent histories. This is the first report on demography and birth seasonality of this unique subspecies of the long-tailed macaque.

Keywords


Birth Rate, Demography, Group Size, Population Dynamics.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv114%2Fi08%2F1732-1737