Indonesian Primates

Edited by two intentionally renowned primatologists, this new text synthesizes current research on the primates of Indonesia, which include apes, monkeys, and prosimians. It is published at a crucial time as anxiety over the fate of the Indonesian primate is rising. One study concluded that more then 70% of Asian primate species are threatened with extinction, while 84% of the dozens of Indonesian primate species are threatened. In this volume, the common thread of diversity is inextricably to the theme of conservation.

Contributed by key researchers from around the world, the volume's chapters demonstrate the sheer variety in Indonesian primates, ranging from Nekaris and Munds' study of using slow loris facial variation to distinguish species to Delgado's discussion of communication patterns among orangutans. The book's first section contains chapters on the endangered orangutans and gibbons. The orangutan, in its Sumatran and Bornean forms, is the only Asian great ape; yet in Borneo, Sugardito and Adhikerana nest densities are severely threatened by logging activity, especially at national park boundaries. The authors highlight the effectiveness of community-based patrolling, a protective measure which is becoming an increasingly effective means of protecting orangutans. The second section of the text examines the diversity of monkeys in Indonesia, with each author in turn stressing the importance of conservation. Yorzinski uses the critically endangered pigtailed langur of the Indonesia Mentawai Islands to demonstrate how isolated island primates react to predation pressure, while further chapters explore the relationship between vegetation and primate densities, habitat quality and its degradation, and human-simian interaction. A further section looks at the region's prosimians and notes that the taxonomic diversity is only recently being explored. The cryptic/nocturnal nature of these primates makes their conservation status even more uncertain.