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Resource depletion through primate stone technology
- Source :
- eLife, eLife, Vol 6 (2017), eLife, 2017, Vol.6, pp.e23647 [Peer Reviewed Journal]
- Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Tool use has allowed humans to become one of the most successful species. However, tool-assisted foraging has also pushed many of our prey species to extinction or endangerment, a technology-driven process thought to be uniquely human. Here, we demonstrate that tool-assisted foraging on shellfish by long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park, Thailand, reduces prey size and prey abundance, with more pronounced effects where the macaque population size is larger. We compared availability, sizes and maturation stages of shellfish between two adjacent islands inhabited by different-sized macaque populations and demonstrate potential effects on the prey reproductive biology. We provide evidence that once technological macaques reach a large enough group size, they enter a feedback loop – driving shellfish prey size down with attendant changes in the tool sizes used by the monkeys. If this pattern continues, prey populations could be reduced to a point where tool-assisted foraging is no longer beneficial to the macaques, which in return may lessen or extinguish the remarkable foraging technology employed by these primates. Published version
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Male
Conservation of Natural Resources
QH301-705.5
Science
Foraging
Tool-assisted foraging
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Macaque
Choice Behavior
Stone Tool Use
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Predation
Abundance (ecology)
biology.animal
parasitic diseases
Animals
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Primate
050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology
14. Life underwater
Primate stone technology
Biology (General)
Ecosystem
Extinction
General Immunology and Microbiology
biology
Tool Use Behavior
Ecology
National park
General Neuroscience
Population size
05 social sciences
General Medicine
Feeding Behavior
Thailand
Macaca fascicularis
shellfish
Medicine
Female
Other
Insight
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 2050084X
- Volume :
- 6
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- eLife
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....22e37ab1c9e2d6e622883d10441ffe76