Monkey Encounters During Nature Walks?
What should you do?
In certain places in Malaysia, such as Penang, we are blessed with the hills and the sea. With just less than 10 minutes drive, we are able to enjoy the sound of the forest in the hills nearby, and indulge within the breeze by the sea.
If you are an outdoor-ish person, just like all of us in Langur Project Penang, you may spend a lot of time in your nearby recreational/community forest, where residents are able to spend some time off from the busy rat race and noisy city noises, just to get back to our roots, in nature. One of the best thing to do to keep ourselves fit and healthy, would be walking, hiking, or trail running in the forest.
We are not the only one in the forest, though.
Never forget, once we step into the forest, there are wildlife residents, the beautiful inhabitants, living in the four forest levels: Forest floor. Understory, Canopy, and Emergent layer. Every step we take has an impact in the forest, including our behaviour, from voice volume to the waste we produced, we must always take these into consideration while experiencing the forest.
One of the best ways to learn how to respect the forest trails, are through understanding the wildlife in the habitat. In Malaysia, encountering monkeys like long-tailed macaques are so common along the forest trail or community parks, where sometimes humans are having hard time to deal with such situations, hence spark misunderstanding toward monkeys, seeing these inhabitants as nuisance.
Here are EIGHT reminders for all of us, what to do when you encounter monkeys during nature walks.
Infographics designed by dusky Chin Wen
Langur Project Penang (LPP) 