Indonesian Journal of Primatology

Sexual Behaviour of Long-Tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Semi-Natural Captivity, Tinjil Island, Indonesia

Rizka Hasanah, Vallen Sakti Maulana, Entang Iskandar

The long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) is a primate species widely used in ecology, socio-economics, and biomedical. Long-tailed macaques have a high degree of adaptation to various types of environments. This species can be used and traded as long as it is the product of captivity. Over time, with increasing demand, there is a tendency to increase the number of long-tailed macaques catch quotas from nature and reduce the habitat of these primates in Indonesia. This demand causes the need for a conservation effort to increase the long-tailed macaques’ population outside their natural habitat. Tinjil Island is a semi-natural breeding place managed by the Primate Research Center (PRC), LPPM IPB University. We studied this area to observe the long-tailed macaques’ daily behaviour. We observed sexual behaviour with the ad-libitum method. Overall, the frequency of each stage of sexual behaviour carried out by the long-tailed macaques is genital inspect by 20% (for 12 seconds), male mounts by 9% (for 5 seconds); intromission by 44% (for 26 seconds), ejaculation success by 17% (for 10 seconds), vocalization by 7% (for 4 seconds), and running by 3% (for 1.6 seconds). Success in sexual behaviour is influenced by the sex age of primates, the period of lust, and food availability. This study is expected to provide information on sexual behaviour that can support reproductive success and successful reproductive management of long-tailed macaques in captivity.

Leukocyte Differential Study in Macaca nemestrina infected by Plasmodium spp

Lis Rosmanah, Arifin Budiman Nugraha, Huda S Darusman — Sun, 23 Oct 2022 14:38:39 +0700

The differential count of leukocytes in Macaca nemestrina (pig-tailed macaques) infected by Plasmodium is a way to determine the pattern of the immune response that is increased by the presence of a disease in the body in the form of a parasite in the blood, namely Plasmodium spp. Plasmodium is a parasitic protozoan that can cause malaria
and is transmitted through infected mosquito bites. This parasitic protozoan can infect birds, reptiles, rodents, primates, and humans. This study also distinguished the percentage of white blood cells (leukocytes) between infected and uninfected macaques with Plasmodium spp, with the number of samples taken by as many as 24 monkeys. Whole blood was made a thin review on a glass preparation. After drying, it was fixed using methanol by soaking it for 15 minutes and then soaking it in Giemsa›s solution for 30 minutes. The number of leukocytes and differential leukocytes was counted using a light microscope. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) examination as confirmation of microscopic examination. The calculation results showed the percentage of neutrophils and monocytes in monkeys infected by Plasmodium spp. Greater than the uninfected macaque, basophils were still in normal numbers for lymphocytes and eosinophils.

Food Preference of Long-tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis Raffles 1821) in IPB Dramaga Campus

Deddy Kurniawan Ritonga, Lin Nuriah Ginoga, Agus Hikmat — Sun, 23 Oct 2022 14:03:51 +0700

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) will expand their daily home range to obtain good and plentiful food sources, thus often causing conflict. Identification of long-tailed macaque feed preferences needs to be done as a form of minimizing conflict. This research aims to identify the type of feed and feed preference, and also to
analyze the daily activity of long-tailed macaques. The research was conducted by vegetation analysis and field observation of the daily activities of long-tailed macaques. The results of this research showed that there were 22 types of feed plants and 2 types of non-plant feeds. Long-tailed macaques are kind of fructivore animals but will be opportunistic omnivores if the availability of fruits decreases. Long-tailed macaques are more interested to eat fruit, especially Belimbing Bintang fruit (Averrhoa carambola), Matoa fruit (Pometia pinnata), and Jabon fruit (Neolamarckia cadamba).

Daily Behaviour of Long-tailed Macaque in the Captive, Semi-wild, and Wild Habitats: Preliminary Reports

Sun, 23 Oct 2022 14:52:04 +0700

One of the endangered non-human primates, Macaca fascicularis, can adapt to various conditions of habitats, including full-housed, semi-wild, and natural habitats. This species has multi-male, multi-female social bonds that influence their daily behaviour activity. This study tried to describe the daily behaviour of Macaca fascicularis in their original habitats through a web-based survey. This study categorised the original habitat as captive, semi-wild, and wild. The focus of behavioural frequency data observed in all habitats includes feeding, locomotion, sleeping, grooming, playing, and aggression. This study used statistical analysis for each paired habitat. The daily behaviour for all pairs showed similar budgets, except for captive 1 and 2, which showed significant differences (p-value<0.05). Six behaviours showed no significant difference (similar frequency) in all habitats. The factors that impact the daily behaviour for each habitat include environmental enrichment and condition, natural resources, individual number proportion (group size), and response to human and anthropogenic disturbance.

Apoptosis of Human Breast Cancer Cells (MCF-7) Induced by Psidium guajava Simplisia Extract

Iin Indriwati, Silmi Mariya, Vincent Andrianto, Diah Iskandriati — Sun, 23 Oct 2022 14:06:12 +0700

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. In 2014, the death rate caused by this cancer reached 585,720 cases. The most common cancers suffered by women include breast cancer (29%), lung cancer (13%), colon cancer (8%), uterine cancer (6%), and thyroid cancer (6%) (Siegel et al. 2014). Therefore, many studies have been conducted to find the best treatment for fighting this cancer. Breast cancer is caused by abnormal cells in the breast that occur continuously. Breast cancer can be affected by several mechanisms, such as angiogenesis (Schneider & Miller 2005), metastasis (Weigelt et al. 2005), and apoptosis (Yang et al. 2006). Apoptosis is a normal cell death process that occurs after several times of replication. This process of apoptosis
has a critical role in normal cells and cancer cells. Cell death due to apoptosis is regulated by an interplay between pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins. These proteins are the result of gene expression, for example, the Bax gene that expresses the Bax protein and the Bcl-2 gene that expresses the Bcl-2 protein (Martin & Dowsett 2013).
Various kinds of treatments have been developed to inhibit the growth of cancer cells, such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and surgery. However, this treatment only works in the early stages of cancer, and later, cells become resistant to these various treatments. In addition, multiple medications can also kill other normal cells. Therefore, research on the treatment of cancer has been developed using bioactive compounds found in natural ingredients, such as fruits (Abrahim et al. 2012). One of the plants that have been widely developed for cancer treatment is guava (Psidium guajava). This plant has been known to have many purposes, such as antibacterial, antidiarrheal, anti-acne, and anti-inflammatory (Ryu et al. 2012). This study aims to examine the effect of guava extract on the induction of apoptosis in MCF-7 breast cancer cells (ATCC HTB 22), which can later be used as candidates for anticancer drugs.