Anna Holzner News Today

For 12 years, primatologist Nadine Ruppert and her colleagues have had one recurring task on their calendar: tagging along with a group of southern pig-tailed macaques in Segari, Peninsular Malaysia, as these primates hop between native rainforests and the neighboring oil palm plantations. Over the years, the researchers successfully habituated the group: they named every […]

The detrimental effects of palm oil plantations on wildlife have been brought to light by a decade-long study conducted by researchers.

Frequent visits to oil palm plantations are leading to a sharp increase in mortality rates among infant southern pig-tailed macaques <i>(Macaca nemestrina)</i> in the wild, according to a new study.

In a decade-long study in Malaysia, researchers discovered that 57 percent of macaques born between 2014 and 2023 died before they were even a year old.

<p>Frequent visits to oil palm plantations are leading to a sharp increase in mortality rates among infant southern pig-tailed macaques (<em>Macaca nemestrina</em>) in the wild, according to a new study published in <em>Current Biology. </em>In addition to increased risk from predators and human encounters, exposure to harmful agricultural chemicals in this environment may negatively affect infant development.</p>

Prolonged exposure to plantation environments tripled the likelihood of mortality among the infant primates

 E-Mail Credit: Photo: Anna Holzner Due to the extensive clearing of their habitat, these primates sometimes turn to palm oil monocultures while foraging. This often leads to conflicts with farmers. The macaques do not damage the palm oil fruits to any great extent. On the contrary, they can even benefit palm oil cultivation, as they are excellent hunters of the masses of rats found on plantations, the main pest found there. As a new study has now been able to prove, however, regularly visitin...