a case study on monkey transcience owing to vehicle collisions during the seasonal periods on the hilly regions of nilgiris tamil nadu – south india

Research Article
Kanitha Christy.I., Gunasekaran,C., Agnes Deepa.A., Balachandar.V and Sasikala.K
DOI: 
xxx-xxxx-xxx
Subject: 
science
KeyWords: 
Nilgiri ghat road; primates; species; vehicle collisions; SPSS 20; accidental areas.
Abstract: 

Summer seasons provide more entertainment to the people of India due to vacations of schools and colleges who seek to spend their breaks in hill stations. Crisis begins when tourists rush to hill stations, causing traffics, environmental pollution, pausing the vehicles, feeding and throwing the food and snack items on road sides paving the way to vehicle collisions in-between the humans and animals. Nilgiri ghat road and the surrounding area is a home for the three major species of primates group, (Macaca radiata, Macaca silenus and Trachypithecus johnii). We studied the mortality rate among these species owing to vehicle collisions during the summer vacation period. The study area was divided into various zones separated with markings and the mortality rate along with the age and sex were recorded each day for a total of 98 days till the end of the vacation. Mortality recorded for each week was combined together to rate the total mortality that occurred during each day of the week. Computation was done using the SPSS software version 20. Factors such as timings of the accidents, chief accidental zone and the species which utilizes the road to the maximum were estimated and were compared with the total mortality that had been recorded. Transience was much influenced by the accidental timings among the various zones and the major species that was much pretentious was the bonnet monkey (Macaca radiata) which indirectly predicted the tourists’ trip to Nilgiris contributing to the vehicle collisions and transience among the primate groups. This paper predicts the impact of tourism on the primate group owing to vehicle collision. Primates have more interaction with the humans and linger along the road sides to eat the food from them. The case study addresses the need to protect the valued creatures of the nature not only the primates but also the other organisms from that PA and to generate awareness among the public regarding the issue