Forty-three years ago when I began to study the toque macaques of the Nature Sanctuary and Archaeological Reserve at Polonnaruwa, in the north-eastern dry zone of Sri Lanka, things were very different. I had chosen this location because, unlike in any of the island's national parks, there were no restrictions on studying monkeys by foot, and also because, importantly, there was little human disturbance. Over the years, increasing tourism and human encroachment at the study site have increased conflict between humans and monkeys. The macaques proved to be wonderful subjects. My research showed, for example, how their strict social hierarchy affects survival and reproductive success: that it was the monkeys themselves who determined how many young their fellows raised and how long they lived. This discovery suggested new hypotheses about the evolution of society in primates.
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