Guest guest Posted December 26, 2003 Report Share Posted December 26, 2003 http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20031227woc2.htm Monkey Business Life with our hairy neighbors Saori Kan Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer Japan is one of the few developed nations where humans are not the only primates living free. The other primate in the case of Japan is actually the star of the coming year--the monkey. In celebration of the Year of the Monkey, red faces and rumps have become ubiquitous in the designs of postcards, calendars, ema votive wooden tablets at shrines, and a whole host of other products. But although human beings and monkeys have coexisted for tens of thousands of years in this country, and despite the appearance of monkeys in familiar folktales, how many people can confidently say they know a lot about the species or the relationship between Japanese people and monkeys over time? As the name indicates, Japanese macaques (nihonzaru) only live in Japan. Their ancestors reportedly moved to the Japanese archipelago between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago from the Korean Peninsula as they expanded their habitat. Nowadays, their southernmost habitat is Yakushima island in Kagoshima Prefecture and their northernmost territory is the Shimokita Peninsula in Aomori Prefecture. The troops living in the peninsula, where temperatures can reach as low as 14 C below zero, are the northernmost nonhuman primates in the world. The monkeys on Yakushima are categorized as a subspecies. Though omnivorous, they basically live on plants, eating shoots and young leaves in spring and fruits and seeds in autumn. Their life span is about 25 to 30 years. " Many people apparently believe that tribes of monkeys are led by an alpha male or female, but actually it is not that usual in the wild, " said Yukihisa Mito, 57, a researcher at the Japan Monkey Center in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture. Instead, the behavior of monkeys depends on their environment. In regions where they have plenty of food and do not feel threatened by humans, they don't need a leader, he said. Mito has been observing wild monkeys for more than 30 years all over the country, including in their northernmost habitat. " They never try to expel humans from their territory as long as we do them no harm, " Mito said. For example, one day while he was taking a nap after some fieldwork, Mito was suddenly woken up by something touching his hair. " I opened my eyes slightly and found myself being groomed by a monkey I recognized from the troop I'd been following, " he said. " This made me feel very happy. " Many researchers apparently have had similar experiences. In the book titled Hito to Saru no Shakaishi (History of Japanese Macaques with Men), which was coauthored by Mito and the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute's Kunio Watanabe, it is stressed that people and monkeys used to live with a better equilibrium. Humans have clearly had a close relationship with monkeys since early times as shown by clay images of the primates found at ancient tombs and ruins dating from the Jomon period (ca 10,000 B.C.-ca 300 B.C.). The animals also appeared in a well-known picture called Choju-giga (Scroll of Frolicking Animals and Humans) kept at Kozanji temple in Kyoto, which is believed to have been drawn during the Heian period (794-1192). In the Kamakura period (1192-1333), people became quite superstitious about monkeys and started to associate them with the protection of horses. Farmers kept monkey limbs or skulls in their stables as charms against evil. As saru, the Japanese word for monkey, can also mean " leave " or " go away, " people believed that monkeys could keep evil away. But what is the connection with horses? " Deer sometimes use the same paths that monkeys use in the mountains and it's also thought that herbivores eat seeds that monkeys drop from the trees. In days gone by, people probably saw this apparent interaction between herbivores and monkeys in the mountains and concluded that they were very close, " Mito said. But people also hunted monkeys for food and to concoct medicines for gynecological complaints because of the relative ease with which monkeys are believed to give birth, researchers said. By the Meiji era (1868-1912), however, people no longer had a feeling of awe toward the species. The dramatic economic change that took place as Japan's Westernization focused people's attention on making money, even out of wildlife, Mito said. However, some monkey-related traditions still remain. In Takayama, a town in the Hida Mountains of Gifu Prefecture, local people still make sarubobo stuffed toys, which have featureless and oversized heads. Sarubobo, which means " monkey baby " in the local dialect, were originally stitched together by old women as toys to give their grandchildren, but later became charms to ensure healthy children. Nowadays, the dolls with their striking red clothes have become a popular tourist souvenir. Japan is also known worldwide for its contribution to scientific research into monkeys--a pursuit known domestically as sarugaku. In the 1950s, some researchers succeeded in establishing a rapport with a tribe of Japanese macaques on Kojima island in Miyazaki Prefecture. Junichiro Itani, a leading field researcher who died two years ago, once told me in an interview about his first encounter with a troop in the prefecture in 1948. " I remember seeing their coats glimmering in the light. I was very impressed by their beauty, " he said. On the island, a local woman spotted a young female monkey washing a piece of sweet potato that researchers had left behind. Based on her report, it was later discovered that other monkeys had learned how to wash potatoes, leading researchers to write a report on " cultural diffusion in monkey society " --a report that took the international research community by surprise. === Monkeys as Tokyoites You may have seen on television or even for yourself monkeys snatching food from tourists or pestering them for food along roads in the mountains around Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture. But you can catch a glimpse of wild monkeys in Tokyo, too. They live in the mountains of Hinoharamura, Okutamacho and some other municipalities in the western part of the capital. According to Motoi Iguchi, 52, zookeeper of Tama Zoological Park in Hino, Tokyo, more than 800 monkeys are living in the region and expanding their habitat. Iguchi, who has loved monkeys since his childhood, started tracking wild monkeys in 1980. Attracted by the species that has survived in the wild, he spends his weekends in the mountains following the missions of monkeys. Of course, you can see monkeys at zoos whenever you want. But Iguchi said people should try to see them in the wild. " I clearly remember the gentle eyes of a monkey when she looked back at me in a forest, and the muscle strength a male monkey showed when he shook branches of a treetop covered with snow, " he said. " This is part of life in Tokyo. " In 1985, he organized the nation's first monkey observation day trip for ordinary people to help them understand the life of monkeys in the wild. Nevertheless, the problem of crops damage by monkeys in the region is worsening, as it is in other regions all over Japan. To prevent damage, more than 5,000 monkeys are killed in the nation every year. In Tokyo, about 60 monkeys are killed as vermin, with metropolitan government permission. Iguchi, though, has continued his efforts to put Tokyoites in touch with their primate cousins. Tokyo no Yasei Nihonzaru Kansatsukai, a volunteer group established by Iguchi, organizes a day tour for about 30 people on the last Sunday of May every year. According to Iguchi, the tour has little impact on the species and is entirely safe for human participants as groups are guided by specialists. On such tours, participants can see monkeys along river banks and forest roads, he said. " Not only monkeys but boars, serows and black bears can be found living in western Tokyo, although not many people know that, " Iguchi said. " I want more people, who don't necessarily have a particular interest in environmental issues, along with children, to take part in our tour so that more people can reflect on how we interact with these animals. " === Emergence of hybrid monkeys While many of their counterparts are threatened throughout the world, Japanese monkeys also are facing a problem--the emergence of hybrid monkeys that are a cross between foreign and native monkeys. In March this year, Wakayama prefectural officials captured seven monkeys and killed them. The monkeys were not Japanese macaques, but hybrids of Japanese monkeys and Taiwan monkeys. The length of a Japanese monkey's tail is about 10 centimeters, but the tails of the seven Wakayama monkeys ranged between 20 and 40 centimeters, apparently proving that they were not native. In Chiba Prefecture, about 100 rhesus monkeys, which are not native to Japan and are often used in medical research, are believed to inhabit an area around Tateyama and Shirahamamachi. " This is thought to be the result of a release or escape of foreign monkeys into the wild, " Mito said. " I want to give people opportunities to rethink how to deal with problems related to monkeys, not just to casually celebrate the monkey as a symbol of the coming year, " he said. Protect your identity with Mail AddressGuard http://antispam./whatsnewfree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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