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ThesisItem Open Access DIVERSITY, HABITAT OF MAJOR MONKEY SPECIES AND THEIR CROP LOSS ASSESSMENT IN AGRO-ECOSYSTEM(2022) Chakraborty, Debjyoti; Borah, R. K.The study on “Diversity, habitat of major monkey species and their crop loss assessment in agro-ecosystem” was conducted at Upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone (Golaghat), Hills zone (Karbi anlong) and North Bank Plain Zone (North Lakhimpur) of Assam in the year 2019-21. Population status, habit, habitat, food and feeding behavior of prevalent monkey species were calculated from the Jorhat district in different cropping seasons and the damage caused by the macaques in rice and homestead gardens were calculated. The various population distribution, group size and composition was calculated through transact method in all the locations of the zones comprising all the crop season. During the survey period, the highest number of Rhesus monkeys among all the three locations was recorded at Kakoti gaon of Golaghat district (UBVZ) with 306 monkeys while Sarthe Rongphar gaon, Karbi anlong (Hills zone) recorded the lowest macaque population of 48. During 2019, a total of 151 individuals were encountered in five groups. The largest group (36 individuals) was recorded in Meleng and the smallest group (20 individuals) in Gondhia Gaon. Furthermore, five groups of 159 individuals were found in 2020. Meleng had the largest group of 49 individuals while Madhupur had the smallest (15 individuals). The average overall adult sex ratio of male: to female was 1:2.33 (1 male to 2.33 female) in 2019. On the contrary, proportions of sexes in Rhesus macaques were found to be one male to three females during 2020. During the behavior study period (January 2020-November 2021), scan sampling yielded a total of 9545 scan records. In this study it was found that 24.87% of their total annual time spends on feeding purposes, followed by movement (21.35%), resting (20.09%), grooming (17.72%), playing (14.30%) and calling (1.65%). There were found to be significant differences in time spent in feeding, movement, resting and social activities among the age-sex group. The adult male was found to be spent more time feeding (21.73%) than resting (18.26%) while adult females spent more time resting (25.17%) than feeding (21.80%). Feeding is a major activity and runs throughout the year, but there was found to be variation in feeding during different months of the year i.e. total feeding was not equal in all the months of the year. It was found to be maximum in April 2021 (8.80%), May 2021 (8.47%), March 2021 (8.38%); minimum were in December 2020 (5.35%), October 2020 (5.52%) and November 2021(5.73%). Feeding was found to be highest in April and lowest in December. In this study, 27 plant species representing 13 genera belonging to 19 families were exploited by the study group as natural food. In light of this questionnaire survey, the majority of the respondents (92%) agreed that the damage to crops caused by monkeys was severe. Potato was the most raided crop (30%), paddy (27%), maize (20%), vegetables (18%) and fruits (5%), respectively. Crop raiding was reported by 92 percent of respondents, although the level of crop-raiding was discovered to be different in different places. Crop raiding was found to be highest in Kakoti Gaon (78%), followed by Guwal gaon, which had the least crop raiding (22%).
