DR. YAP JO LEEN

Fostering human-monkey coexistance in urban landscapes

“What it does is new, challenging and often questioned”

In Penang, there has been a notable increase in negative interactions between human and non-human primates in anthropogenic landscapes. These occur mainly in residential and urban areas, where complaints are frequently lodged against monkeys like dusky langurs and long tailed macaques, roaming near human-impacted areas, often leading to their forcible removal and sometimes even their destruction.

A large part of the problem is caused by the disappearance of the primates’ habitat as humans encroach on their territory through urbanisation and road infrastructure which result in fragmentation of their habitat. As a result, there have been unfortunate incidents of roadkill when urban wildlife attempt to cross roads in order to reach other fragments of habitat. This fragmentation increasingly restricts monkeys to smaller areas, leading to higher population densities. This increases interactions with humans in agricultural areas and forest edges, which can escalate into human-monkey conflicts.

The lack of public awareness about wildlife behaviour exacerbates the problem. Food provisioning activities by humans towards monkeys encourage monkeys to frequent human-populated areas, increasing the likelihood of negative interactions. Easy access to food from visitors has led to macaques venturing near public areas, causing nuisance to the local residents and even attacks on the recreational forest visitors.

Inspired to do something about the threats to these endangered primate species, Penang based Dr Yap Jo Leen, a wildlife researcher, environmental educator, and certified Malaysian Regional Nature Guide, started the Langur Project Penang Hub (LPP) in 2022 with the aim “to promote coexistence between humans and urban monkeys (especially dusky langurs and long-tailed macaques) in our shared space through citizen science-based field research, community science, and environmental education initiatives.”

To do the work, collaboration is key and LPP has established strong collaborations with government authorities, local assemblyman, communities, academic institutions and other stakeholders, to facilitate comprehensive and sustainable solutions. Jo Leen says “We measure the success of these efforts through the strength of these partnerships.”

Watch our film about Jo Leen's work

Langur Project Penang Hub

Bridge to coexist

Since 2019, Dr Yap has lead her team at LPP in the installation of two artificial road canopy bridges in Penang in order to allow aboreal wildlife to travel safely between fragments of their habitat, thus reducing roadkill and dispersing the concentrations of wildlife. Using recycled firehoses for their durability and to reduce wastage, these aboreal crossings are the first of their kind in an urban setting in Malaysia.

The first crossing has been recorded as being used by about nine species of animals - including the Dusky Langur, Long-tailed Macaque, Plantain Squirrel, Black Giant Squirrel, Skink, Asian Palm Civet, Green Crested Lizard, Paradise Tree Snake, and Slow Loris - to cross the busy road over 6000 times. Roadkill incidents have dropped to zero since the construction of the bridge five years ago compared to seven deaths (six dusky langurs and one slow loris) recorded in less than a year at the same location.

With the recorded successes of their first two bridges, LPP have plans to build two more canopy bridges in the next few years.

Let's all be citizen scientists

LPP also recognises the importance of community engagement in fostering coexistence and carries out an extensive outreach programme with the local urban communities. By conducting educational sessions on monkey behaviour, implementing innovative strategies for coexistence and encouraging residents to become citizen scientists who can contribute to their data collection, LPP engenders a sense of connection to nature and awareness of the threats posed to wildlife amongst the urban community.

Future plans - spreading the message

The success of their programmes have encouraged LPP to extend its message of peaceful human-primate coexistence to other parts of Peninsular Malaysia through roadshow exhibitions, rainforest programmes, online sharing of educational materials, podcasts and media coverage.

Dr Yap says that ‘Receiving the (Biji Alam) Award funds would be transformative for Langur Project Penang Hub (LPP), enabling us to address key challenges and significantly advance our conservation efforts.

With the Biji Alam Award

The LPP team will

Intensify monitoring efforts of their canopy bridges through regular site visits to assess each bridge conditions, retrieve camera trap data to monitor bridge usage by dusky langurs, long-tailed macaques and other arboreal species, and evaluate changes in their movement patterns and interactions with humans. This approach will provide valuable insights into the efficacy of canopy bridges in promoting safe wildlife movement and mitigating negative human-wildlife interaction.

Use the data collected to establish blueprint guidelines for the technical details of installing future canopy bridges. These guidelines will be compiled into an e-book and shared with national and international research databases. It is hoped that this information will be useful to conservationists from other countries in the planning and building of their own canopy bridges.

Provide training and resources for volunteers

Broaden their educational outreach initiatives to more parts of Peninsular Malaysia, including programmes with government schools, involving field trips and workshops.