Abstract
Distributions of wild Japanese macaques and actual damages to crops by them in Kinki region are reported. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in Wakayama, Nara, Kyoto and Shiga prefectures. From the surveys, the following results were obtained. 1) Japanese macaques damaged the crops mainly in autumn when the harvest time of them. 2) The macaques appeared crop fields usually in groups. 3) They usually disappeared from the fields when they saw humans. 4) Twenty-nine crop items were damaged by the macaques. 5) The inhabitants did not usually devise countermove to the damages. Field surveys were also conducted in those areas according to the results of the questionnaire surveys. In Wakayama prefecture, 8 groups were suspected to forage in Kanaya town and Nakatsu and Miyama villages, and 8 groups were seemed to forage in Ryujin village. In Nara prefecture, more than 10 groups were suspected to forage in Ohtoh and Totsukawa villages. Also several groups were suspected to forage in each town or village in northern Kyoto and western Shiga. Further intensive studies are necessary to clarify the relationships between human activities and the damages to crop by Japanese macaques and to solve this problem.
