JOIN USFrom crop raids to hot springs
Growing up in the heart of India’s Western Ghats, I very well know the struggles of farmers to safeguard crops from monkeys. Whenever I heard the airgun shot, I wondered if there was a solution other than killing these monkeys. However, I saw a silver lining behind the dark clouds during a trip to Japan in December 2022.
Japan’s innovation isn’t limited to robotics and technology. It aims at finding simple yet practical solutions to daily life problems. Japan’s countryside is as charming as its bustling cities. They grow rice, soybeans, wheat and a large variety of fruit and vegetables. Where there are fruits, there come the monkeys.
This is the real story of Japan’s Jigokudani in the Nagano region 300 km west of Tokyo in Central Japan, where the Japanese found a way to protect their crops from the Monkeys without killing them.
Snow monkeys in Nagano
Japanese macaque, commonly known as the snow monkey, is famous for taking a dip in the hot springs of Jigokudani in the Nagano region, where steep mountains in the area create deep valleys home to many hot water springs. Bright pink faces and a high level of intelligence characterise them.
After World War II ended in 1945, Japan was on its path of redevelopment. The mountainous region of Nagano was the focal point of ski resorts and deforestation along the mountain to fit ski slopes and cable cars. Eventually, “Japanese Macaques” lost their natural habitats, becoming the victims of development in the early 1950s.
Nagano region is blessed with abundant fertile soil and water, making it a perfect place to grow apples and grapes. So the furry victims moved down to the village near Jigokudani to co-live with humans as they found this region as their “fruit granary” which will never run out. After losing their crops to monkeys, the distressed farmers were tempted to kill them, and Japan’s government permitted them to do so.
Birth of Snow Monkey Park
In 1957, Sogo Hara, a local railway employee and an avid hiker, discovered a group of Japanese macaques on Jigokudani trails. Hara marvelled at the monkeys and began interacting with farmer communities to save the crops without killing the monkeys.
Meanwhile, his efforts were fuelled by a local Korakukan Onsen resort owner who started leaving apples outside his resort for monkeys so they don’t go down to the village. Slowly, the monkeys understood that the apples were meant for them and restricted themselves to the guesthouse and the mountains. There was a drastic downfall in monkeys raiding farmlands due to this.
A twist to the monkey tale
Japan’s researchers say the monkeys must have observed humans soaking themselves in the hot spring to relax. Then, slowly they started to copy humans and rejoiced in the hot spring like humans. Pier Ferrari and Stephen Suomi, researchers at the Public Library of Science, Biology, believe that baby monkeys like to mimic humans.
According to another story, apples fell into the hot water spring accidentally. A monkey who tried to pull it out fell into the pool accidentally, only to discover how good it feels to take a hot spring bath when it snows. Soon, other monkeys followed the lead to enjoy hot springs.
Hara and the resort owner observed the monkeys relaxing in the onsen (hot spring) meant for humans. Following the queue, they built an artificial hot spring 100 metres away from the resort for monkeys to remain in the valley and enjoy their spa without human intervention.
Along with this, they started feeding monkeys to incentivise them to stay in the valley. After several attempts and experimentation, they discovered that the monkeys preferred to eat thrice a day. Raw barley, soybeans and apples were given as treats even during summer. Thus a park with no electric fence was established in 1964 so that monkeys could stay in the valley and not raid farms by providing what they needed most – food in summer and warmth in winter.
Lessons for the Western Ghats
Rhesus Macaque and Japan Macaques belong to the same family – Cercopithecoidea (“Old World monkeys). “Macaques are famous for their dietary flexibility, and in general, they can be characterised as opportunistic yet selective,” researchers Jenna M Lawrence and Marina Cords say.
The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), an independent scientific organisation based in the United Kingdom, states that “Macaques have a rich behavioural repertoire. Therefore, understanding the intricacies of macaque behaviour can aid our understanding of their welfare and management in captivity.”
The Western Ghats don’t receive snowfall, so building a hot spring for Rhesus Macaques may not help. But a constant study of their behaviour will help map their territory, leading us to create an artificial forest with water sources and trees bearing fruits which may encourage monkeys to stay within the forest region instead of venturing into the neighbouring villages. The outcome, of course, will be suspense until the experiments are done.
(The author is an architect and a travel writer)