Crab eating monkeys

Any visitor to Forest Zoo at Port Blair, Andaman gets automatically attracted to monkeys’ enclosure. Highly agile, playful and noisy primates keep the visitors spell bound. A bit dull during hot noon hours, about two dozen macaques display acrobatic feats and skill of combining physical activity with nursing the young baboons. With every ounce of body fortified with energy and vitality, they keep testing the strength of the chain link fencing and timber planks utilized for their enclosure.

Macaque is an interesting mammal, unique in its eating habits and social order. A dusky fawn coloured mokey, it superficially resembles bonnet monkey of S.India. It has typical hair tuft on the crown, growing backwards, somewhat like Rhesus Macaque, but has a longer tail. In India macaque species is found in Great Nicobar island, Little Nicobar and Katchal islands, while it also inhabits the forest of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. It is basically arboreal in nature and prefers tropical forests with tall trees. It generally feeds on wild banana, breadfruit, jamun and other fruits and berries. It also sometimes relishes crabs as delicacy. Being omnivores, it also devours some insects it can lay hands on. The macaque takes two main meals-breakfast and the dinner. It generally rests during noon, skipping its lunch. They prefer to live near rivers,sea beaches, mangroves and usually fish in creeks.

Macaques are highly social and operate in troops. While the troop’s strength varies with availability of food and foraging facility, the social groups having members of all ages and sex are usually 10-25 strong. Each troop, under the command of a dominant male moves about in its home range, of which it is very possessive. When two troops happen to forage in one forest block, time table of their daily movement is automatically so geared that the different troops do not meet, thus avoiding conflict and inter-troop fights. There are generally 2-3 females to every male macaque in the troop-single dominant male forms the troop’s center.

The breeding season and intensity of macaques varies with food supply status. Usually they have one breeding season a year, two seasons are also reported in areas with favourable conditions. The consort pair move, play about and forage together for a few days. Actual unison lasts just for a few minutes. Grooming each other is very common during romance period. Gestation period is about six month. Baby baboon with closed eyes and very less hair on the crown and the back. The eyes open nearly two hours after the birth. Mother macaques protects the baby from invaders like leopard, smaller cats, wild dogs, eagles, python, crocodiles, monitor lizards with great care and affection.

Macaques enjoy afternoon siesta and get catnap at intervals. Under Zoo conditions they are generally monogamous, but some cases of polygamy are also noticed. In Zoo they like cucumber, guava, banana, papaya, raw and semi boiled mutton and fish. They are clean eaters and devour all edible part of fish leaving behind entire skeleton and bone cage. They like boiled egg and pounce upon Maina, Bulbul or any other unwary birds who strays in their enclosure by accident or in search of food.

The primates get some sort of advance inkling of natural calamities like earthquake or severe cyclones and exhibit peculiar behavior. They would suddenly clam down and raise body hair and ears. They some times become restless just before and during earth quake or tremors.

The primates move about in troops of 10-30 and produce shrill calls. Seeing lone women or children, they make aggressive posture and sometimes even attack. In Nicobars, they eat pandanus fruits and relish papayas.

Very naughty as they are, they cause damage by ravaging the settler’s agro-horticultural produce. Great Nicobar Settlers, mostly ex-Army personnel, train domestic dogs to catch the macaque by neck when they attempt to raid their gardens. The macaques too, not to be outwitted by the dogs, pounce on the dogs as group. Some monkeys even slap the dogs, then jointly drag the poor dog on the tree and let it fall down like a stone. I have seen macaques diving in sea for a few minutes before surfacing again with fish, shell or other marine food.

Macaques particularly under zoo conditions become highly tuned to feeding timings. I recall, a male macaque, Shambu who does not tolerate delays in the food served to him. Shambu would get annoyed if his choice food is not served timely. He would simply throw off food items or just destroy it into bits. In Port Blair Zoo, corss-breeding between Nicobar Macque(male) and mainland rhesus monkey(female) has been successful. The off spring does not have typical fawn colour of its father. It has now nicely mingled up with other macaques.

Monkeys have fascinated humans over ages. People have some sort of respect for the primates as these playful beings are believed to be ancestors of man. Their playful actions, mimicry and aping posture are fascinating. It is rather baneful for the monkeys that they have RH blood group like human being.. It is their boon nay bane that several monkeys are made subject of painful medical research throughout the world. Primates are integral part of the ecosystem and serve important role in dispersal of seeds and consequent regeneration of forests. These cheerful friends are vital construction block in the ecological pyramid. Crab eating macaque is endemic fauna of the Nicobars(India) and needs our compassion for its happy survival
The breeding season and intensity of macaques varies with food supply status. Usually they have one breeding season a year, two seasons are also reported in areas with favourable conditions. The consort pair move, play about and forage together for a few days. Actual unison lasts just for a few minutes. Grooming each other is very common during romance period. Gestation period is about six month. Baby baboon with closed eyes and very less hair on the crown and the back. The eyes open nearly two hours after the birth. Mother macaques protects the baby from invaders like leopard, smaller cats, wild dogs, eagles, python, crocodiles, monitor lizards with great care and affection.

Macaques enjoy afternoon siesta and get catnap at intervals. Under Zoo conditions they are generally monogamous, but some cases of polygamy are also noticed. In Zoo they like cucumber, guava, banana, papaya, raw and semi boiled mutton and fish. They are clean eaters and devour all edible part of fish leaving behind entire skeleton and bone cage. They like boiled egg and pounce upon Maina, Bulbul or any other unwary birds who strays in their enclosure by accident or in search of food.

The primates get some sort of advance inkling of natural calamities like earthquake or severe cyclones and exhibit peculiar behavior. They would suddenly clam down and raise body hair and ears. They some times become restless just before and during earth quake or tremors.

The primates move about in troops of 10-30 and produce shrill calls. Seeing lone women or children, they make aggressive posture and sometimes even attack. In Nicobars, they eat pandanus fruits and relish papayas.

Very naughty as they are, they cause damage by ravaging the settler’s agro-horticultural produce. Great Nicobar Settlers, mostly ex-Army personnel, train domestic dogs to catch the macaque by neck when they attempt to raid their gardens. The macaques too, not to be outwitted by the dogs, pounce on the dogs as group. Some monkeys even slap the dogs, then jointly drag the poor dog on the tree and let it fall down like a stone. I have seen macaques diving in sea for a few minutes before surfacing again with fish, shell or other marine food.

Macaques particularly under zoo conditions become highly tuned to feeding timings. I recall, a male macaque, Shambu who does not tolerate delays in the food served to him. Shambu would get annoyed if his choice food is not served timely. He would simply throw off food items or just destroy it into bits. In Port Blair Zoo, corss-breeding between Nicobar Macque(male) and mainland rhesus monkey(female) has been successful. The off spring does not have typical fawn colour of its father. It has now nicely mingled up with other macaques.

Monkeys have fascinated humans over ages. People have some sort of respect for the primates as these playful beings are believed to be ancestors of man. Their playful actions, mimicry and aping posture are fascinating. It is rather baneful for the monkeys that they have RH blood group like human being.. It is their boon nay bane that several monkeys are made subject of painful medical research throughout the world. Primates are integral part of the ecosystem and serve important role in dispersal of seeds and consequent regeneration of forests. These cheerful friends are vital construction block in the ecological pyramid. Crab eating macaque is endemic fauna of the Nicobars(India) and needs our compassion for its happy survival

How to rob coconut, know about robber Crab

Andaman and Nicobar Islands are unique treasure of bio diversity. Remoteness of these Islands from main landmass Asia, gives special endemic character to faunal wealth of the archipelago. As much as 39% of total avifauna found in the islands is endemic, so also 13% of total faunal species inhabiting the islands. Giant coconut crab belongs to the phylum arthropods, which also possesses a relatively high degree of endemism. Robber crab or Giant coconut crab is one such nature’s wonder which has been alluring nature scientists and wildlife enthusiasts by its giant size, tree climbing skill and super strength.

While paging through the international wildlife encyclopedia, I cam across interesting and useful information on this curious creature, which is found in the Indian Ocean Islands and into the southwest pacific. The adult robber crab grows upto 1.5’ long and 2-3 Kg weight. It has very long walking legs so are its claws. Surprisingly, it has abdominal legs on one side only, suggesting that it is descendant from hermit crab ancestor. In Andaman the coconut crab inhibits relatively secluded areas of back waters and coastal habitat having luxuriant growth of thespesia and other wetland species including coconut palms.

The crab climbs the coconut areca or sago tree with ease using its long and pointed second or third pair of walking legs. Crabs do fall from good height while climbing but don’t suffer serious injury because of the hard outer shell casing. Is it not interesting that while the young hatchlings are born in salt water and swim well, the adult crab get drowned in water! Perhaps they have forgotten the swimming habit.

It is rather difficult to catch the crab, because of its evasive, elusive nature-takes to shelter at slightest disturbance. The robber crab becomes more vulnerable when it has climbed coconut, sago or areca nut tree. Local belief is that when the robber is up a tree it can be caught by using a girder of grass high up round the trunk. When the crab comes down and its body touches the grass girder, it lets go under the impression that it has reached the ground, and falls, and it is stunned.

It appears that the giant crab’s ability to climb trees has been blown out of proportion and twisted to give the ill reputation of ‘robber’ crab or coconut crab. Several zoologists who have observed the climbing feats of Birgus latro have come to the conclusion that the crab does not tear open or ‘rob’ the coconut. It perhaps climbs the tree to nibble the tender shoots as also sip the water trapped over/ in between the leaves.

Different observations- even contradictory are made about robber crab, about its climbing coconut trees to pluck (rob) the nuts. Linnaeus, in 1769 named the mysterious reptile as BIRGUS LATRO (Latro means robber) and several theories/stories were later floated on ‘latro’. Darwin, 1845) accepted the story of robber crab eating coconuts by de husking and eating its pulp, but was skeptical about its climbing palm. He gave account of the crabs tearing away coconuts’ eyes and scoop out the pulp for eating. Some naturalists believe that after de husking, the crab holds the nut with its powerful pincer claws and bangs against some hard stone to break it. Reyne(1930), a Dutch naturalist pronounced that crabs eat coconut broken by other means. In the year 1939, May and Larsen actually watched in Herbidu forest, a crab carrying a fallen coconut to the tree top, drop it to break. Filed nine times. It broke in the tenth attempt and relished its hard earned reward. Local Nicobari Tribals don’t agree with the theory of crab robbing coconuts. They attribute the robbery to rats.

This crab found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is basically carnivore and eats even other smaller crabs. A few stronger crabs killed a weaker one and devoured the same.

As mystery shrouds around the ‘latro’ crab for its unique climbing and robbing skill, its population is on the decline due to shrinking habitat and delicious flesh for crab soup. Wild life protection Act, 1972 is also not that ‘serious’ about protection of tghese animals ‘defamed’ as robber and trapped/killed to satisfy the unending lust of human beings and concocted stories about medicinal properties of the ‘crab oil’. It is mainly found in South Sentinel Island, Car Nicobar and other areas of Nicobars, and the Act places no restrictions on the ‘traditional hunting rights’ of Nicobari Tribals of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Can we understand to save this rare and endangered crustaceans from total extinction! Its inclusion in Schedule 1 of the Act rings bell of alarm. But are we hearing the bell ?????