SEASONAL ACTIVITY PATTERN OF MONKEY (Macaca mulatta) IN DIFFERENTCROP ECOSYSTEMS OF TELANGANA

Abstract

The Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), is
one of the important non-human primates distributed in
several parts of India, including Telangana. In
Telangana, rhesus macaques are commonly observed
in forest fringe villages, temple premises, peri-urban
regions and agricultural ecosystems adjoining reserve
forests. Rapid urbanization, expansion of agricultural
lands and degradation of natural habitats have
intensified interactions between wildlife and humans
in recent decades (Sinha and Vijayakrishnan, 2017).
Human–wildlife conflict has emerged as a serious
ecological and agricultural problem in many parts of
India (Madhusudan, 2003). Among various wildlife
species, monkeys have become one of the major
vertebrate pests causing substantial economic losses
in agricultural and horticultural ecosystems (Chauhan
and Pirta, 2010). Increasing monkey populations,
habitat fragmentation, deforestation and reduction in
natural food resources have forced monkeys to move
towards agricultural fields and human habitations in
search of food, water and shelter (Imran and Ahmed,
2018)