下北半島におけるタイワンザルとニホンザルの交雑

抄録

A group of Taiwanese macaques (Macaca cyclopis) was first introduced to Aomori Prefecture, Japan, around 1952. Since then, they have been raised under free-ranging conditions in a pasture. They were translocated two times within the Shimokita Peninsula. Those monkeys were fed regularly and adult males had the opportunity to move out freely from the group. Prevention of hybridization became a big concern but no action was taken for nearly 50 years. The recent establishment of a provincial regulation finally urged the owner to remove the monkeys from the pasture and a total of three groups consisting of 68 monkeys (except an immigrant Japanese macaque male) were completely removed in 2004.