NParks to educate public on people-monkey co-existence
By Monica Kotwani | Posted: 20 October 2010 2117 hrs
Long-tailed macaques
SINGAPORE: National Parks Board (NParks) will be holding guided walks to educate people on how to behave when they see a monkey.
The walks are organised after anxious callers contacted NParks, following a recent case in Malaysia in which a monkey killed a baby.
The long-tailed monkey, known as the macaque, is also a popular species in Singapore forests.
NParks' Central Nature Reserve assistant director James Gan said: "What we are hoping (to achieve) through these kind of guided walks, (is) to have people better appreciate monkeys in their natural habitat and (for the public) to learn how to relate to these monkeys better, so that monkeys and human beings can co-exist peacefully".
NParks said people who feed wild monkeys alter the monkeys' relationship with the eco-system.
Such feeding lures the monkeys out of their natural habit to forage for food in the forests, onto residential areas such as those near the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.
Ms Helene Mayne, a resident near Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, said residents do not mind the frequent visits by monkeys and are even protective of them.
Mr Gan said: "Monkeys do not generally seek out interaction with humans.
"And unfortunately, it's the people who come out and feed the monkeys (that cause) the macaques (to) seek that interaction.
"They're very family-orientated creatures. They're not naturally aggressive animals".
-CNA/wk
By Monica Kotwani | Posted: 20 October 2010 2117 hrs
Long-tailed macaques
SINGAPORE: National Parks Board (NParks) will be holding guided walks to educate people on how to behave when they see a monkey.
The walks are organised after anxious callers contacted NParks, following a recent case in Malaysia in which a monkey killed a baby.
The long-tailed monkey, known as the macaque, is also a popular species in Singapore forests.
NParks' Central Nature Reserve assistant director James Gan said: "What we are hoping (to achieve) through these kind of guided walks, (is) to have people better appreciate monkeys in their natural habitat and (for the public) to learn how to relate to these monkeys better, so that monkeys and human beings can co-exist peacefully".
NParks said people who feed wild monkeys alter the monkeys' relationship with the eco-system.
Such feeding lures the monkeys out of their natural habit to forage for food in the forests, onto residential areas such as those near the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.
Ms Helene Mayne, a resident near Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, said residents do not mind the frequent visits by monkeys and are even protective of them.
Mr Gan said: "Monkeys do not generally seek out interaction with humans.
"And unfortunately, it's the people who come out and feed the monkeys (that cause) the macaques (to) seek that interaction.
"They're very family-orientated creatures. They're not naturally aggressive animals".
-CNA/wk
