Abstract:
Patterns of ranging behavior of a species depend on distribution and abundance of
different resources including food resources and roosting trees, further also depend on
group size, intergroup encounters, phenology and movements of the group on previous
days, season variability and rainfall. If a species is exposed to humans and live
commensal with humans, then the degree of provisioning influences their ecology which
includes activity and ranging pattern of that species. To understand this phenomenon, I
selected Bonnet Macaque (Macaca radiata) as a model organism to understand the
ranging pattern where there are developmental activities and alteration to their habitat.
For the study, four groups of bonnet macaque were selected from Chamundi Hills,
Mysore, Karnataka. I have collected 12:00 hrs of observations for 106 days over 7 nonconsecutive months (June 2017- February 2018) of study. The data was collected on
Daily path length (DPL), activity budget and feeding ecology of these groups. The DPL
was significantly varied between the study groups. The groups were found to spend more
time in resting activity and very small time in movement activity. The feeding activity did
not differ significantly between study groups. The study groups feed >40% on a natural
resource. This result concludes the amount of provision food is a prime mover of ranging
pattern in primates. The results are also important to develop the conservation strategies
for conservation of bonnet macaque and any other commensal species living in habitat
fragmented area
