June Hols W2

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
Nic and Nat

5.24pm:

- around 29 macaques

- around 32 people

- big bin not there

- whole site rather clean and not a lot of rubbish around

5.40pm:

- around 32 macaques

- around 26 people

6pm:

- around 23 macaques

- around 30 people

Macaque behavior:

- walking on roads

- grooming each other

- disregard of human and cars

- come very close to humans

- sit and walk on cars

- play in the middle of roads

- trying to open bins

- rummaging through bins

- eating from styrofoam boxes

- one monkey snatched bag of chips from a boy (almost scratched boy)

- walk through houses

- made screechy noises at each other

Human behavior:

- go very near macaques (<1m)

- taking pictures of macaques

- little kids shouting at monkeys

- mother (and mho) allow kids to continue, even laughing at the scene

- some bins not locked/closed

- one little girl wanted to touch a baby monkey but parents scolded her and dragged her away

- one man feeding monkeys bread

TIff and Ying

4.40pm: Reached lab area. Saw 2 monkeys near the slope at the end of Wallace Trail. We tried to take a picture of them but they disappeared into the trees. Attempted to look for them along the trail.

5pm: Found 6 monkeys

Macaque behaviour:

- climbed along branches

- grooming each other

- feeding on leaves, twigs and flowers

- shrieking 

- retreating deeper into trees/disappearing into the trees when humans make a lot of noise

human behaviour:

- middle-aged woman with her young son were walking along the trail. Young boy started screaming and pointing at the monkeys, trying to attract the macaques' attention. 

- middle-aged couple stood for awhile to observe the macaques at safe distance. (>1m)

- a few other people just ignored the macaques.

June Hols W1

Bukit Timah (Nic and Nat)

June Week 1.

Bukit Timah

5:10pm:

- Around 17 macaques

- Around 25 people

- Big bin still gone

- Area still rather clean except for a few torn open plastic bags around locked bins.

5:25pm:

- 25 macaques seen

- Around 35 people

5:35pm:

- 32 macaques seen

- 35 people seen

5: 50pm:

- 30 macaques seen

- 40 people seen

6:05pm:

Macaque behavior

• Running across the roads chasing each other
• Eating in the middle of the road
• Eating leaves, tree bark and fruits that drop on the ground.
• A group of 3 macaques making loud aggressive noises at each other on the roof
• Two macaques running on the road chasing each other
• Climbing on vehicles parked by the road
• Macaques tore apart the few plastic bags on the pavement
• Macaques drank from an open bottle of carbonated drink.
• Two macaque tried shaking a bin to open it.

Human behavior

• Old woman shooing away monkeys which went too close to her.
• Young man with the old woman scaring the macaques away with an umbrella
• Two teenagers went very close and squatted near a group of macaques with a small baby macaque. They were laughing and taking photos with their camera.
• A little boy threw a few chips towards the monkeys
• Father encourage boy and was excited when the monkeys rushed towards the chips.

WELL (Tiff and Ying)

4.25pm: Reached lab area. 0 monkeys seen. Around 22 people.

4.30pm: Went up slope leading towards the end of Wallace Trail. Saw 2 macaques along the trail and 3 on the trees.

Monkey Observations-

1) When we approached the monkeys, they immediately moved away from us and jumped back onto the trees.

Monkeys on trees were:

- Plucking leaves

- Scratching

- Feeding

- Climbing from tree to tree/ up and down vines

2) When the macaques on the trees finally noticed us, they stared for a while before moving further into the trees.