宮城県仙台市におけるニホンザルの群れ管理の実践例

抄録

We conducted a 15-year troop-based management study of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Northern Japan. Our goal was to maintain an isolated macaque population in this region, and to decrease the level of their crop damage. We classified subject troops (n = 18) into:1) Village-Group (n = 6), whose home range was located near crop fields and caused severe crop damage; and 2) Mountain-Group (n = 12), whose home range was primarily located in a forest with relatively light crop damage. During the study period, we mainly captured Village-Group animals, and drove away Mountain-Groups from the crop field. We also conducted an annual population census from 2003-2017. Over our study period, the number of Village-Group and the total amount of crop damage by the macaques decreased, and we have maintained the total number of animals in Sendai at a constant level of 500-550 animals. In the Village-Group, the decrease in troop members depended on whether the crop field was being used as a feeding site. Therefore, we need to continue monitoring their behavior to decrease crop damage. We found that troop-based management is a useful technique in the Tohoku area where macaque populations are isolated due to previous over-hunting, and researchers need to consider both damage-management and population-management in their studies.