A number of concerned organizations including the Saudi National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development (NCWCD) are looking at ways to curb their numbers. The authority has even held a number of local and international seminars on the issue.
A recent study by Saudi researchers that included researchers from France and Japan, revealed that monkeys have a family system similar to that used by humans.
It also revealed that a male monkey usually has up to 10 females in his troop, but not less than two.
Interestingly, the likelihood of females cheating on males was 81 percent higher. In the past it was commonly believed that female monkeys were monogamous.
The study revealed that 13 out of 16 young monkeys from the same troop were not born to the troop leader.
“This is a shocking result. We have asked the research team to carry out the tests again, which seem to contradict the common lifestyle of monkeys. Female monkeys tie themselves to a single male,” the director of the National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) in Taif, Ahmad Al-Booq, told Arab News.
He said the social system of monkeys is family-oriented. The male and his female companions constitute a troop and two and three troops join together to form a clan.
Al-Booq said the monkeys adapt rapidly to different circumstances and conditions. He recalled that monkeys were forced out into the open during the Kingdom’s first economic boom, when roads were constructed, forests burned and garbage dumping areas closed.
“Losing their environment, the monkeys began to raid villages and nearby towns looking for food,” he said.
Al-Booq held motorists responsible for the hordes of monkeys because they often feed them.
“This is not helpful because when the monkeys do not find food, they will not hesitate to attack houses looking for something to feed on,” he said.
Al-Booq said the number of monkeys has increased from 120 in a herd to about 800. He added that around a third of monkeys in the Kingdom were causing havoc in their quest for food, while the rest fed peacefully on plants.
He recalled a number of incidents where monkeys kidnapped babies and ran away with them, while warning parents to be careful when passing through areas frequented by monkeys.
Al-Booq said a short-term solution to contain the rapid increase in monkeys was to sterilize males without affecting them sexually.
“This is done by a veterinarian, who will perform a 15-minute operation. There are also long term plans to cut down the number of monkeys,” he said.
Al-Booq said there are 234 monkey species in the world, while the most common in the Kingdom are monkeys found in Taif and along the southern borders with Yemen.
“There were only 250,000 monkeys in the Kingdom 15 years ago, but now their number runs into the millions, “ he said.
