柴山台灣獼猴（Macaca cyclopis）食用嬰猴屍體紀錄

Cannibalism of Mother Taiwanese Macaque (Macaca cyclopis) on Infant Corpse at Mt. Chai

本研究報導台灣獼猴母猴食用嬰猴屍體的過程，並且討論可能發生這類行為的原因。柴山猴群中的1隻母猴於嬰猴死亡後第二天，將已攜帶1天半的嬰猴屍體從腹部撕開一缺口，並食用腐肉，歷時69 min，食用了腹部與胸部的腐肉及內臟。當母猴食用嬰猴腐肉時，群中4隻個體曾聚集圍繞，並有個體趨前嗅聞猴屍，亦因公猴的靠近致使母猴抱著屍體移往他處食用。在野外活動的猴群中，母猴食用嬰猴腐肉之觀察報導少有，由觀察到的母猴食用腐肉時的行為推測，嬰猴屍體對母猴而言已成為一種食物資源，這種食用嬰猴腐肉的行為可能和該棲地與猴群受到高度人類干擾有關。 In our regular tracking on a group of Taiwanese macaque (Macaca cyclopis) at Mt. Chai, we observed cannibalism of a mother macaque on her infant corpse after she carried it around for one and half days. She tore off skin of the corpse with her teeth and consumed the flesh of the chest and abdomen for 69 min. During this period four other monkeys of the group crowded around her, and even one of them took a smell at the corpse. When the alpha male approached her, she carried the carcass away to avoid him. The infant corpse-eating behavior of the mother and the attention she drew among other members of the group suggested that the infant corpse was considered as food. The occurrence of such cannibalistic behavior might be resulted from damaging impacts of human activities on the primate habit and habitat.