抄録
The introduction of a group of foreign macaque species was confirmed in the southernmost part of the Bousou peninsula, Chiba prefecture, in 1995. The group, living in a 10 km2 range of habitat, consisted of more than 96 monkeys and its habitat was located approximately 20 km south to the core distribution area of native Japanese macaques.
We collected information by interviewing the local authorities or resident people in order to evaluate the group’s origin. The founders of the exotic group seem to have been released or escaped from a breeding facility. After the establishment of its home range around Shirahama town, the group became a pest for farmers. The conditions of vegetation and crop raiding are described here. We also conducted observations and radio tracking to investigate the movement patterns of the group and the possibility of individual transfer between groups of the two species. Two such cases of long distance migration by adult males between the introduced and native populations were observed during the period from 1997 to 1999.
Sequencing of mitochondrial DNA extracted from feces suggested that the alien species was rhesus macaque, Macaca mulatta. Electrophoretic examination of diagnostic blood proteins (adenosine deaminase, NADH-dependent diaphorase and transferrin) for the samples collected during 1996 to 2002 gave no evidence of hybridization in the area of native Japanese macaques.
