Tourist Behavior Predicts Reactions of Macaques (Macaca fascicularis and M. nemestrina) at Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre, Sabah, Malaysia

Conservationists continue to grapple with the practical risks that accompany ecotourism initiatives, where access to threatened ecosystems is exchanged for financial support for both protected areas and local communities. One of the most practical ways to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of an increasing number of visitors is to identify problematic human behaviors and attempt to limit them through education or staff intervention. We observed the behavior of both visitors and macaques in a hybrid group (Macaca fascicularis × M. nemestrina) at Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Center in Sabah, Malaysia over a period of 10 months to better understand patterns in tourist-directed aggression. We witnessed 307 encounters between macaques and tourists but intense aggression was absent. Overall rates of minor visitor-directed aggression were low, with only 0.71 bouts observed per hour. Eye contact between tourists and macaques was associated with significantly higher odds of experiencing minor human-directed aggression, such as an open mouth threat. Taking a picture, however, was associated with reduced odds of experiencing aggression from the macaques. Tourists were not able to provision the animals, which may help explain the lower rates of intense aggression compared to those at other tourist sites. Although improved education signs and staff supervision could further reduce visitor-directed aggression at Sepilok, these results are promising because they highlight the role that relatively simple policies (such as those that forbid provisioning by tourists) can play in reducing unwanted behavior by both humans and nonhuman primates at ecotourism locations.