Coexistence between Javan Slow Lorises (Nycticebus javanicus) and Humans in a Dynamic Agroforestry Landscape in West Java, Indonesia

In a world increasingly dominated by human demand for agricultural products,we need to understand wildlife’s ability to survive in agricultural environments.We studied the interaction between humans and Javan slow lorises (Nycticebusjavanicus) in Cipaganti, Java, Indonesia. After its introduction in 2013, chayote(Sechium edule), a gourd grown on bamboo lattice frames, became an important cashcrop. To evaluate people’s use of this crop and to measure the effect of this increase onslow loris behavior, home ranges, and sleep sites, we conducted interviews with localfarmers and analysed the above variables in relation to chayote expansion between2011 and 2015. Interviews with farmers in 2011, 2013, and 2015 confirm the importanceof chayote and of bamboo and slow lorises in their agricultural practices. In 2015chayote frames covered 12 persen of land in Cipaganti, occupying 4 persen of slow loris homeranges, which marginally yet insignificantly increased in size with the increase inchayote. Slow lorises are arboreal and the bamboo frames increased connectivity withintheir ranges. Of the sleep sites we monitored from 2013 to 2016, 24 had disappeared,and 201 continued to be used by the slow lorises and processed by local people. Thefast growth rate of bamboo, and the recognition of the value of bamboo by farmers,allow persistence of slow loris sleep sites. Overall introduction of chayote did not resultin conflict between farmers and slow lorises, and once constructed the chayote bambooframes proved to be beneficial for slow lorises. International Journal of Primatology; April 2017, Volume 38, Issue 2, pp 303–320