Introduction

Malaysia, in Southeast Asia, has a total landmass of 329, 845 km2, separated by the South China Sea into two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo (i.e., Sabah and Sarawak). Peninsular Malaysia is located south of Thailand, north of Singapore and east of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The country comprises tropical rain forest with dipterocarp forests, peat swamp forests, and mangrove forests (Mohd-Azlan, 2006). The human population is about 28 million and consists of multi-racial ethnic groups with a majority of Malays, followed by Chinese, Indians and other minorities (Lim et al., 2004). The country is the home for 229 species of mammals (Lim, 2008) including 18–20 species of primate species (Brandon-Jones et al., 2004; Md-Zain et al., 2009).

In Malaysia, there are three species of macaques, pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina), stump-tailed macaques (Macaca arctoides) and long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) (Brandon-Jones et al., 2004). M. nemestrina is widely distributed within Peninsular Malaysia but mostly in the undisturbed forests and is hardly seen near to the coastal forests. M. arctoides can only be found in northwestern part of Malay Peninsula (Medway, 1969). Meanwhile, M. fascicularis can easily be found near rivers and low ground secondary forests and near to human settlements (Marsh and Wilson, 1981). Macaque populations in Malaysia have not received much attention as many researchers focus on ecology, behavior and genetics of their sister taxon, the leaf monkeys (e.g., Md-Zain et al., 2008, 2010a, 2010b, 2011; Matsuda et al., 2009).