Arashiyama West
The fissioning of the Arashiyama troop of Japanese macaques at Iwatayama,
a private monkey park in Arashiyama on the outskirts of Kyoto, Japan, in
1966 was the first observation of natural division in a troop whose genealogical
relationships were known (Koyama, 1970).
The new groups, designated "A" troop and "B" troop,
divided along rank and kinship units, with females of middle and higher
matrilines forming the nucleus of "A" troop and middle and lower
ranking matrilines forming "B" troop. Adult males (six years and
older) went to the troop which did not contain their female relatives. "B"
troop, with its high ranking males, became dominant to "A" troop,
eventually supplanting "A" troop from Iwatayama.
"A" troop created problems as its members began raiding gardens
and structures outside the monkey park. In 1968, American scientists working
at Arashiyama (Stephenson, 1973) made arrangements through Dr. John T. Emlen
and the University of Wisconsin at Madison to salvage "A" troop
by sending it to the United States to prevent its destruction.
Edward Dryden Jr., an attorney/rancher from Laredo, Texas, made an agreement
with Emlen to provide land and fencing to contain the animals. Emlen, with
assistance from the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Regional Primate
Center, was to provide management and maintenance. The original troop would
be kept as intact as possible, but as the population grew, Mr. Dryden would
acquire animals for a proposed breeding colony.
The "A" troop arrived at La Moca, an old San Antonio-Laredo stage
stop 30 miles north of Laredo, Texas, in late afternoon of February 23,
1972.
These are some scenes from La Moca.
