My Family and Other Primates



My name’s Helen and I’m undertaking an MRes (Masters by Research) in Applied Sciences at Bournemouth University. I’ve basically been a massive animal geek my whole life and I’ve been offered a pretty unique opportunity to contribute to an exciting new research project investigating how the 3-dimensional structure of the rainforest influences primate behaviour and ecology in Sumatra. It’s a collaboration between several NGOs (including YEL-SOCP, Sumatran Orang-utan Conservation Programme) and universities, involving a series of projects which will be brought together to provide valuable insight into the ways in which primate communities interact with their physical environment. This is an area which hasn’t been particularly well studied to date, making this a super exciting project to be working on, as we get to try out some fairly new methods. I’ll be going out to the Sikundur research station in the Gunung Leuser National Park for 8 months with two other research students: Rosanna is a fellow MRes student from Bournemouth working with white-handed gibbons, and John is a PhD student from Liverpool John Moores University, who is looking at orang-utans.

My research focusses on the Thomas langur monkey, Presbytis thomasi. These guys hang around in single male-multi female groups of 10-20 individuals, and like to stick to the taller trees in the forest canopy. Logging is particularly problematic for this species, because they prefer the tallest emergent trees for sleeping, as this provides them protection from ground predators, such as leopards and tigers. Langurs also like to rotate their sleeping trees to avoid a build-up of parasites, so a reduction in these emergent trees, e.g. from selective logging, is likely to result in an increase in predation and parasite load. At the moment, these monkeys aren’t used to people and so we can’t collect detailed data on their behaviour, but hopefully after 8 months of me pestering them, they will be a bit more used to mad humans wandering around in their forest! 



Monkeyin’ around: Thomas langurs are easy to distinguish thanks to their unique hair-do.
Photo credit: www.arkive.org





I’ll be looking at how the forest structure determines Thomas langur monkey distribution in the forest surrounding the Sikundur field site. One thing I’m really excited to try out is using vocalizations to determine group number. This is a method that’s been used frequently for gibbons, but has yet to be applied to langur monkeys. While they don’t have the distinctive songs that gibbons do, male Thomas langurs do use vocalizations to establish their territories, or as alarm calls. As spotting them in the forest may prove difficult, listening for groups could well be a more effective way of measuring their population.

 

This project should also give other aspiring researchers like me the opportunity to gain valuable field experience in this incredible environment. My project supervisor Mandy is already lining up more students to come out to Sikundur to work on their own projects, and by collaborating with local NGOs and universities we can also involve and engage with local communities, which I firmly believe is key to good conservation. Mostly, though, I’m looking forward to seeing how all of the results come together and seeing lots of cool wildlife, of course!

My previous field experience has actually been mainly with marine animals, so this project will be a completely new experience for me! In the UK I’ve worked in an aquarium and become very familiar with a variety of marine life, including sharks, rays, jellyfish, clownfish, coconut crabs and Japanese spider crabs, cephalopods (including a very naughty common octopus who earned the imaginative nickname ‘Squirty’ due to his habit of spraying unsuspecting passers-by with water) and my favourites, the seahorses and sea dragons. I’ve also spent this past summer working with the North Cyprus Marine Turtle Conservation Project monitoring nesting beaches of green and loggerhead sea turtles. I’ll never forget watching a turtle make her way back into the sea whilst the sun rises over the dramatic Cyprus coastline, or the slightly delirious 3am radio banter amongst the volunteers as we attempt to keep each other awake throughout the night, or the feeling of elation as you uncover a ‘hatchling explosion’ during a nest excavation. If anyone is interested in volunteering in marine conservation, I’d definitely recommend checking the project out at http://www.cyprusturtles.org/volunteering.php. They usually take volunteers for 6-8 week placements throughout the nesting season (May-October), and it’s a great opportunity to get up close and personal with these amazing animals, as well as have a tonne of fun and make some lifelong friends along the way.

So far, it's all been a bit mad. With a scheduled departure of January 2nd, we've all had a crazy holiday period with a whirlwind of family and friends wanting to say Bon Voyage! My poor parents have been running around trying to find ways to help, especially my Mum, who's taken to preparing Indonesian meals to prep me! As excited as I am to be heading off on this adventure, I will miss everyone, especially all the silly cats that like to come over, much to our own resident diva's chagrin. There's also Alfie, a Jack Russell/Poodle cross puppy, who's due to arrive at our house at the end of January, I am GUTTED that I won't be there to welcome him! It will all be totally worth it in the end, as I get to spend eight months in the heart of the Sumatran jungle, along with orang-utans, gibbons, langur monkeys, tigers, leopards, rhinos, elephants and much, much more. How many people can say that?!

 Currently, we’re still in Medan going through the motions to obtain our visas and research permits. It’s been a bit of a culture shock, involving mad driving, millions of motorbikes and a seemingly endless city. In a couple weeks’ time we’ll be on our way to the field station at Sikundur and our comfortable hotel room will be a distant memory. I can’t wait to get out into the forest and get stuck in to the research. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is going to be the experience of a lifetime!