Bali Echo Magazine Edition 52 | Balinese Long-Tailed Monkeys

The function of Bali's forests has changed, and so have the lives of the fauna which inhabit them. These changes result from efforts aimed at environmental preservation, as well as the incorporation of the forests and its fauna into the tourism industry. In spite of these changes, however, many forest-dwelling fauna continue to live in nature peacefully and happily.The forest-dwelling animal most prevalent in Bali is the long-tailed monkey (Macaca species). This kind of monkey is commonly found in umerous places all over the world. In fact, the long-tailed monkey is spread all over Indonesia, and can be found in just about all areas of the archipelago. In spite of the ubiquity of this monkey, known as bojog in Balinese, a certain mystery still surrounds it. This mystery recalls the Balinese people's belief in the close ties between their own society and that of the monkey. That locals regard the monkey highly is evident in the place the animal occupies in Balinese folk tales and fables as well as in the Hindu epics. In the Ramayana, the Hindu epic, Sugriwa and Hanoman are monkeys who play heroic roles.

Hanoman, the king of the monkeys, is particularly notable. In India, infertile women pray to Hanoman by stripping in front of his statue and asking him to deliver them from sterility. The ancient Egyptians also showed similarly high regard for the baboon, which was accorded the special task of honouring the sun at dawn and at dusk. Buddhist symbolism depicts the monkey alongside the elephant as Buddha's escorts. The Chinese Swen Wu Kong (swen means monkey) is similarly heroic. Swen Wu Kong was popularised via a 16th century novel, in which he, alongside two others, escorted a priest from China to India in search of the sacred Buddhist scripts. This story was recently repopularised via a Chinese television serial, the highly popular dubbed version of which appears on Indonesaian television as Kera Sakti (Sacred Monkey). In Bali, monkeys which inhabit certain locations are also regarded with awe. The people of Sangeh, and Alas Kedaton Tabanan, two places where the long-tailed monkey lives, believe that monkey kingdoms exist in these places, and have so since long before their promotion as tourist attractions. The monkeys

of Sangeh and Alas Kedaton Tabanan are also believed to adhere to curious burial rites, whereby they bury their own dead. This belief derives from the fact that the rancid stench of decomposing animal corpses never seems to emit from the forest, even though monkeys are in abundance there and certainly die frequently. It is believed that the monkeys must have a special burial ground. No-one however has been able to prove, to date, exactly how the monkeys bury their dead,

but the communities that live around Sangeh and Alas Kedaton Tabanan firmly believe that they do. They also believe that the world of the monkey consists of both niskala (beyond the realm of the senses) and sekala (able to be sensed) elements, thus following the Balinese (human) world view. Further, not only in Sangeh and Alas Kedaton, but all over Bali, it is believed that every community of monkeys has a king who oversees the unique and mysterious social activities of his monkey kingdom. As a primate, the long-tailed monkey's social life pproximates that of humans. Their communities are structured hierarchically. They live in communities which are relatively uniform in size and structure.But there are various kinds of family relations and terri -toriality within monkey communities. In most cases, a ranking of male monkeys applies. Similar rankings may also apply to female monkeys. Like human children, young long-tailed monkeys spend their time playing: ighting, chasing each other, performing acrobatics on trees, doing back flips, swinging, imitating their elders and tickling each other. Through play, the young monkeys, who remain highly dependent on their parents for the first three years of their life, learn about the world around them. The edu--cation of the young monkeys is similar to a play group in that as they play, young monkeys are supervised by an adult monkey. In case of danger, however, the young flee the group and return to their respective parents. Long-tailed monkeys form into small groups which, like families, se-ek food, sleep and eat together. After eating, family members clean each other, by picking parasites, thorns, seeds and other debris from each others' fur. This ritual cleaning has a hyg -ienic function, but it also serves to maintain the close ties and to uphold the existing hierarchy among family members. In Bali, it is not only human society that has been disrupted by tou--rism, but also that of the monkey. The social change experienced by the long-tailed monkey is evident in the difference in body shape between monkeys that inhabit touristed areas and those living in wilder, more rugged places. Natives of touristed areas tend to be fatter, because they are overfed, whilst those living elsewhere have much slimmer bodies. There are also marked differences of behaviour in different areas in Bali. The monkeys of Sangeh tend to be extremely cheeky. They steal glasses, bags and climb onto peoples shoulder, and refuse to return the things they have stolen or to climb off peoples' shoulders until they have received some peanuts or a banana. They become aggressive towards people who don't bring food, and friendly towards those who do. In Monkey Forest in Ubud also, the monkeys tend to approach those who have food on them, although the Ubud monkeys here tend to be less aggressive than those in Sangeh.In Alas Kedaton Tabanan, the monkeys swim and bathe to wash themselves. Whilst those of the Wanasari forest, on the road from Denpasar to Singaraja, about 5km from Lake Bedugul, a community of about 50-60 monkeys live at an altitude of around 1220 m. They line up alongside the road and wait for passers by to give them food. Due to the road's incline, the vehicles ascending it tend to emit a lot of exhaust fumes, which is then inhaled by the monkeys.
Consequently, these monkeys have developed an ingenious way of cleansing their nostrils of the exhaust residue ? by rubbing their noses with clumps of grass.The monkeys in Uluwatu, meanwhile, find their food in the wild. They eat leaves and the leftovers of offerings placed at the temple by locals who go there to pray. The forest at Uluwatu ends abruptly at a steep limestone cliff. The monkeys have learned to climb up and down the cliff, as they often go to the beach below to search for food such as seaweed, small fish or prawns. Human behaviour has taught monkeys to be more human-like, because monkeys tend to copy what they see and incorporate that behaviour in their development of a lifestyle. According to Wayan Batan, a primate expert in the Veterinary Science Faculty of the Udayana University in Denpasar, changes in the behaviour of monkeys in Bali has been caused by a number of factors, including increased human activity in the places where the monkeys live and, as a result of this, several monkey communities now have access to foods that do not occur naturally in their environment, as well as increased competition among monkeys for food due to population growth.
The Neka Museum in Ubud has as part of its collection a that depict monkeys - among them I Gusti Keut Kobit's 'Coiled by the Serpent Lasso' (1953) which depicts a scene from the Ramayana, and Ida Bagus Made Togog's 'Grateful Animal' (1950), which depicts the Indian fable Tantri Kandaka. Many stone and wood carvings in Bali depict the Ramayana epic, of which monkeys are a central part, in detail, and are displayed in the home as decorative ornaments or wall hangings. In the performance arts, such as the Ramayana dance-drama, monkeys, particularly the monkey king Hanoman, is also central. The Kecak dance is another example of the centrality of monkey characters in the arts in Bali. As is the case in Java and in other areas of Indonesia, the monkey is often portrayed as a comic figure in village plays. This monkey comedy genre is also performed on the village level in Bali, whereby players move from house to house, busking their talents in return for small contributions. TOURISM AND MONKEYS: SUSTAINABLE CO-EXISTENCE? Wayan Batan has been observing and medically treating the long-tailed monkeys for a number of years. He claims that the animals began inhabiting their current habitats some time ago. The monkeys, he explains, seeks out the forests where food supply is abundant and constant. Further, the monkeys are barely affected by human population growth or migration, because they tend to live in areas perceived as sacred by local Hindu Balinese.Some of the habitats of the long-tailed monkey on Bali include the West Bali National Park, the Wanasari Forest in Bedugul, Alas Kedaton in Tabanan, Sangeh, Monkey Forest in Ubud, Uluwatu, Bukit Gumang in Karangasem, Mt. Batukaru, Mt. Batur, Mt. Lempuyang, and other areas which harbour small colonies.It is clear that monkey colonies that inhabit tourist areas, such as Monkey Forest in Ubud, have increased in size over time. The Ubud monkeys are guaranteed a food supply that is rich in nutrients and protein, thus assuring that their growth is healthy. Healthy monkeys tend to proliferate more. As individual monkeys experience healthy growth, the size of the colony as a whole necessarily increases.In this way, the tourism industry and Bali's monkey population are mutually supportive and co-exist symbiotically. As tourism reaps profits from monkey colonies, it sustains them by encouraging tourists to feed them. Local communities also benefit ? they sell food to the tourists for the monkeys, and establish small businesses as amateur photographers to give the tourists the opportunity to preserve their visit on Polaroid film.Monkeys and humans can benefit each other as long as this harmony is maintained. Humans refrain from destroying the monkey habitats, or upsetting this harmony in any way, for fear of provoking the monkeys.Nevertheless, at this point in time it may be useful to consider other ways in which tourism can help ensure that its co-existence with the long-tailed monkey continues and is sustainable