- 出版者
- 兵庫県立人と自然の博物館
- 雑誌
- 人と自然 (ISSN:09181725)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.30, pp.49-68, 2019 (Released:2021-03-04)
- 被引用文献数
-
2
The history of man-monkey relationships is considered in terms of habitat destruction and hunting
pressure by humans from the early Jomon period to the present. It seems that Japanese monkeys,
Macaca fuscata, were not a very conspicuous species in the Jomon period when humans lived by
subsistence hunting and gathering without agriculture. Humans have continued to alter their forest
environment, changing the habitat most suitable for arboreal monkeys to sparsely foliated bushes
and grasslands through burning, cultivation and daily exploitation for fuelwood, etc. Japanese raised
no domestic animals for meat, fundamentally depending on wild animals for protein. As the human
population increased, the forests were devastated widely and monkey populations became obliged to
depend on steep rocky cliffs in the deep mountains for protection. This condition suddenly changed
after the Fuel-Revolution, which occurred in 1960 to 1970. The managed forests were abandoned
and the natural flora recovered. Wolves, Canis lupus, the predator of monkeys, became extinct in the
early 20th Century. Accordingly, the distribution of wild mammals, including monkeys, has rapidly
expanded with an increase in population size. As a result crop-raiding has increased drastically as well
as their removal. Comprehensive management is needed.