Feeding wild monkeys is not a good deed. The intention may be good but certain food can cause gastrointestinal problems for monkeys. Even the high sugar content of bananas could cause primates to develop diabetes.
So, if you want to be kind to monkeys, don’t feed them and don’t leave food in open spaces. Don’t pat them. They’re wild creatures, no matter how cute they look. Physical contact may lead to aggression.
Make your waste bins “monkey proof”, and keep your windows and doors shut.
Dusky leaf monkeys in Malaysia face extinction due to habitat fragmentation which leads to roadkill, close interaction with humans and the wildlife pet trade.
These were some of the points highlighted by Wildlife Researcher and Environmental Educator, Dr Yap Jo Leen in a talk titled “Let’s Bridge to CoExist: The Story of the Dusky Leaf Monkey” at the Bursa Knowledge Centre in Kuala Lumpur recently.
Jo Leen, a certified Malaysian Regional Nature Guide, is the first Malaysian recipient of the Environmental Educator 30 award from the North American Association for Environmental Education in 2018.
She won the award via the Langur Project Penang (LPP) which studies the ecology and behaviour of the dusky leaf monkeys, an endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
Jo Leen’s team has successfully installed Malaysia’s first canopy bridge to facilitate safer wildlife crossing in Teluk Bahang, Penang.
Read about the canopy bridge and her labour of love for the langurs HERE.
Jo Leen will be among the 7,280 graduates set to receive their respective degrees during Universiti Sains Malaysia’s 60th convocation ceremony which begins Saturday (Dec 3,2022). She holds a BSc in Biology from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and a PhD in Zoology from USM.
Congratulations Dr Yap Jo Leen!
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