The July 27, 2022 observation was fascinating. I watched the entire troop hang out for more than two hours around a burn pit, where park workers were burning trash and debris.
My initial reaction was to be alarmed at the sight of several troop members reaching into a burning heap of trash to fish out food wrappers, soda bottles, and other bits of food debris.
Dr Malene Friis Hansen, Director and Co-Founder, The Long-Tailed Macaque Project, weighed in on a social media post I made about the observation:
"This is quite usual. I suspect that they have adapted to the trash burning in Indonesia. I used to see it often, when I was conducting research in Indonesia. Definitely not the best place to forage, but it is rather undisturbed, and trash does constitute a proportion of their diet in many places. In Baluran National Park, they created these trash burning ovens/pits with a very high chimney. Worked very well to reduce trash dependence of the monkeys as they couldn't climb into them."
Upon reflection, and after viewing the video taken yesterday, I see that this is likely a routine behavior for the troop. It probably occurs weekly. I just hadn't witnessed it yet.
Still, it resonates with me that it's a sign of the anthropogenic issues that urban wildlife contends - or adapts - with while trying trying to survive. Jakarta has very few pristine habitats left in a developed megacity of 10 million people. The macaques must know what they're doing.
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