A Comprehensive Population Survey and Daily Activity Budget on Long-tailed Macaques of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Variation in socioecological characteristic such as activity pattern is an example of how primates adapted to their local environment. In this study, daily activity budget of long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) was described that confined in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia main campus. A comprehensive population survey of the long-tailed macaque was also conducted to determine the population count and group size. Between June 2002 and May 2010, several long-tailed macaque groups were observed via group focal sampling and the behavior continuously recorded. Population surveys indicated that there were nine groups of long-tailed macaques with 600 most individuals located around student residential colleges. Present results indicate that all long-tailed macaque groups spent most of their time in locomotion (18.00-31.36%). Resting (16.13-20.26%) and feeding (16.29-24.02%) accounted as the most activities after moving. However, long tailed-macaques were less engaged in social activities such as playing, vocalization, agonistic, grooming and sexual behaviors. Chi-square test demonstrated that daily activity budget differed significantly among behaviors.