EAPSI: The Impact of Web Based Tourist Education on Human-Tibetan Macaque Interactions

游客的存在和噪音水平会影响猕猴的压力水平，如果处理不当，可能会导致潜在的危险灵长类动物与人类的互动。这项研究将有助于确定是否教育游客与网站特定的网站将改变游客对西藏猕猴的行为，减少游客猕猴的攻击性遭遇，并减少猕猴的压力指示行为。这项研究将在中国安徽的野生猴子谷进行，这是一个旅游目的地，与来自安徽大学的西藏猕猴专家李金华博士和夏东坡博士合作。一个教育网站与网站的具体信息将通过QR码提供30天。研究人员将记录游客与猕猴的互动，以及每天使用采样方法记录行为的游客噪音水平。研究结果将表明智能手机技术（网站）是否可以用于减少应激诱导的游客行为的发生率，帮助黄山园林局（HGB）工作人员尝试改进对猕猴的管理。日常的游客-猕猴互动对猕猴和游客都有负面影响，如猕猴攻击和自我导向行为的发生率较高，人畜共患病的传播，以及压力水平增加。在中国安徽省的野猴谷，游客们每天都在与西藏猕猴互动。将通过QR码提供一个教育网站，其中包含网站特定信息（即行为指南，公园规则，保护），为期30天。将使用人类和猕猴行为图记录访视猕猴相互作用。研究表明分贝水平与猕猴压力水平之间存在相关性，因此每天都会记录分贝水平。研究人员将比较猕猴和人类行为的频率，平均分贝水平，以及网站的“开”和“关”的日子。研究人员预测，在“网站开放”的日子里，访问者将表现出更少的对抗行为和更低的分贝水平，猴子将表现出比“网站关闭”的日子更低的攻击和自我导向行为。研究结果将表明智能手机技术是否有助于减少导致游客压力行为的发生率，帮助黄山园林局（HGB）的工作人员改进对猴子的管理。该奖项是东亚和太平洋夏季研究所项目下的一个奖项，由NSF和中国科技部共同资助，支持一名美国研究生的夏季研究。

Tourist presence and noise levels impacts macaques stress levels and can lead to potentially dangerous primate-human interactions if not handled properly. This study will help determine if educating tourists with a site specific website will change tourist behaviors towards Tibetan macaques, reduce tourist-macaque aggressive encounters, and reduce macaque stress-indicating behavior. This research will be conducted at Valley of the Wild Monkeys in Anhui, China, a tourist destination, in collaboration with Tibetan macaque experts, Dr. Jin-Hua Li and Dr. Dongpo Xia, from Anhui University. An educational website with site specific information will be made available through QR codes for 30 days. Researchers will record visitor-macaque interactions, and tourist noise levels daily using sampling methods to record behaviors. The results will indicate whether smartphone technology (website) can be used to reduce rates of stress inducing visitor behaviors, assisting Huangshan Garden Bureau (HGB) staff in their attempts to refine management of the monkeys.Daily visitor-macaque interactions have negative impacts on macaques and visitors such as higher rates of macaque aggressive and self-directed behaviors, zoonotic disease transfer, and increased levels of stress. Tourists interact daily with Tibetan macaques at Valley of the Wild Monkeys in Anhui, China. An educational website with site specific information (i.e. guidelines for conduct, park rules, conservation) will be made available through QR codes for 30 randomized days. Visitor-macaque interactions will be recorded using human and macaque ethograms. Research shows a correlation between decibel levels and macaque stress levels, so decibel levels will be recorded daily. Researchers will compare frequency of macaque and human behaviors, average decibel levels, and website "on" and "off" days. Researchers predict on "website on" days, visitors will exhibit fewer antagonistic behaviors and lower decibel levels, and monkeys will show lower rates of aggression and self-directed behaviors than on "website off" days. The results will indicate whether smartphone technology can help reduce rates of stress-inducing visitor behaviors, assisting Huangshan Garden Bureau (HGB) staff in their attempts to refine management of the monkeys.This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.