The Lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus), a primate endemic to small and severely fragmented rainforests of the Western Ghats in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, continues to be in the ‘endangered’ category on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The latest conservation status of the primate was updated in the IUCN database recently, based on technical reports over the years from a group of researchers, including Mewa Singh of University of Mysore, Ajith Kumar of the Centre for Wildlife Studies, and Honnavalli N. Kumara of the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History.
According to a technical report, the total wild population of lion-tailed macaque could be about 4,000 individuals, consisting of less than 2,500 mature individuals, made up of 47 isolated sub-populations in seven locations in the three States. The population is expected to suffer a decline of over 20% in the next 25 years owing to varied reasons, including hunting, road kills and habitat loss, it said. Though the conservation status of lion-tailed macaque had improved from ‘endangered’ in the first assessment in 1990 to ‘vulnerable’ in 1994, its status has remained ‘endangered’ since 1996.
The researchers have observed that the population of the mostly shy and frugivorous primate, which prefers upper canopies of evergreen rainforests, was registering a declining trend in its home range in the Western Ghats from the Kalakkad Hills in the south to Sirsi-Honnavara in the north at an altitude of 100-1,300 m.
“Fragmentation of the habitat is one of the major threats to the species. Several habitats that remain disconnected from others can be linked. There are contiguous habitats in Karnataka and Kerala. The population in the Valparai plateau of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) can also be linked to other populations. Enough research has been done on various aspects of the conservation of the primate over the last several years, and now it is the responsibility of the authorities to implement them on the ground,” says Professor Mewa Singh of the University of Mysore.
Researchers feel that continuous monitoring is crucial to understanding the population trend for the management and protection of lion-tailed macaques in their habitat. Officials of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve are preparing to estimate the lion-tailed macaque population of Valparai in October in collaboration with the Nature Conservation Foundation.