Biology subjects

Md-Zain, B. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Md-Zain, B. M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Dietary habits of free-ranging banded langur (Presbytis femoralis) in a secondary-human modified forest in Johor, Malaysia

Banded langurs, Presbytis femoralis, are distributed in southern Peninsular Malaysia, i.e., Johor and its borders including Singapore. It has been estimated that there are only < 250 mature individuals of P. femoralis in Malaysia and Singapore, and it is currently assessed as Critically Endangered. The dietary information of P. femoralis and even other closely related species has rarely been reported. This study, therefore, aimed to describe their dietary habits and discuss interaction between their feeding behaviour and its surrounding. This study was conducted from February to November 2018, with 15 sampling days each month. We collected a total of 186 sighting hours, using a scan sampling method with 10-min intervals, on a five-langur focal group. We have identified 29 species with 47 items consumed by the banded langur, mostly young leaves (51 %) followed by fruits (45 %), and flowers (3.8 %). The study group spent slightly more time consuming non-cultivated plants but relied on cultivated plants for the fruits. Over 75% of fruit feeding involved consuming cultivar plants; in most cases (73%), they ate only the pulp, not the seeds. Since the cultivated plants was planted in human settlement, there is an urgent need to implement conservation measures to untangle the human-langur conflicts for instance, reforestation of a buffer region using non-cultivated plants. There is a potential for building upon our new findings with more detailed investigations, such as more extensive ecological factors influencing the dietary adaptation which would be necessary to support conservation efforts and management decisions of this species.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Population dynamics and ranging behaviors of provisioned silvered langur (Trachypithecus cristatus) in Peninsular Malaysia

Tourists are attracted to the Bukit Melawati Kuala Selangor (BMKS) of Peninsular Malaysia, a small hill park, both for its status as a historical site and the free-ranging silvered langurs (Trachypithecus cristatus) that come for provisioning. We assessed the population trends and group sizes of T. cristatus over 10 years in the BMKS and examined their ranging patterns. Comparisons of observed populations between 2005 (190 individuals) and 2017 (193 individuals) revealed the stable demography and group sizes of the six T. cristatus groups in the BMKS. Based on a total of 185 location points of the six groups in 2017, their mean ranging area was 3.6 ha with a range of 0.86 to 6.93 ha with extensive spatial overlap. We also found a significant positive relationship between the six groups ranges and group sizes in 2017. Additionally, qualitative ecological comparisons with a previous study on T. cristatus in 1965 (before provisioning) suggest that the artificial food supply in the study area could modify the population dynamics and socioecology of T. cristatus. The modifications might alter their range size and territoriality in the BMKS. Overall, we found that provisioning had negative effects on the ecology of T. cristatus in the BMKS. Therefore, modifying management policies, such as banning feeding and implementing educational programs, may contribute to their proper conservation.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Activity Budget and Postural Behaviours in Orangutans on Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island for Assessing Captive Great Ape Welfare

Assessments of the welfare status of captive and semi-captive animals often compare how their expression of natural behaviours differs from that of free-ranging conspecifics. Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island (BMOUI) is the only orangutan rehabilitation and conservation centre in the Malay Peninsula. We recorded and analyzed the activity budget and postural behaviours of orangutans moving freely in the enclosures on BMOUI to evaluate their welfare status. From December 2015 to December 2016, we observed three individuals: an adult male, an adult female and a subadult male, and collected 252 hours of focal data (84 hr/individual). The orangutans activity budget was dominated by resting (60%), feeding (13%), playing (14%) and moving (9%). The study individuals heavily relied on the artificial foods (79.2%), and they spent majority of their time on the ground (85.1%) with occasional arboreal observations like using the wooden tree platform or a rope. Despite some significant individual differences, behavioural categories followed a similar trend: resting > feeding > moving > playing, except that the subadult male spent significantly more time playing (35%) than the two adults (3-4%). The most predominant posture was sitting (47.0%), followed by pronograde standing (29.4%), lying (10.5%) and clinging (4.5%). Our results suggest that orangutans on BMOUI engage in less feeding but more resting, and show less postural diversity, than free-ranging individuals. We propose that appropriate interventions to shift activity budgets, especially feeding vs. resting, and postural behaviours of captive orangutans towards those found in free-ranging orangutans might be beneficial for their welfare and survival; however, the conclusions we can draw are limited due to the small sample size, and thus until the captive behaviours of a larger number of orang-utans has been described, these results must be considered preliminary and just a case study.

animal behavior and cognition↗