[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="20873,20874"] Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The behavior of citizens is the reason behind the aggravation of 'domestication' phenomenon of an increasing proportion of monkeys in various cities of the Kingdom, Dr. Ahmed Al-Boug, director general of the National Wildlife Research Center, has said. Al-Boug, who is also a spokesman of the Saudi Commission for Wildlife Conservation, said the increased number of baboons caused the commission to hold urgent workshops recently at King Khalid University. Participants from several entities including five universities and ministries of agriculture and municipal and rural affairs stressed that the behavior of citizens was the primary reason behind the increasing number of monkeys. "Animals depend on humans, directly and indirectly, to feed at varying degrees. Dumping of eating remains in public parks without properly tying waste bags attracts the monkeys to the cities and out of their geographical scope, which extends from the Saudi-Yemeni border through the Sarawat mountains down to the valley of Akhal, which is 150 km south of the city of Madinah," he said. Al-Boug said the data collected through studies, and what was recently put in workshops on the issue of increasing numbers of baboons, is that the behavior of citizens form the basis of this problem whether as a result of poor awareness or misconduct. He explained that the largest proportion of these monkeys (65 percent) is wild that cause no problems because they live in their natural habitats away from humans. "But 35 percent of the rest of the monkeys bring three categories of problems: The first is a group, about 17 percent, that visits farms. They invade farms on weekly average throughout the year, which would cause significant losses to the agricultural sector," he said. The second category, he explained, is the groups that visit farms less and they are 14 percent. The third category, which constitutes 4 percent, is domesticated groups living on public roads such as Hada road in Taif. This category is causing increasing concerns because they damage the cities. "Baboons are not exotic animals such as (ravens) in the city of Jeddah, which came from India. The genetic studies have shown that baboons are authentic animals and their roots in the Arabian Peninsula are deep up to nearly 400,000 a year," said Al
