Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815

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Global Ecology and Conservation

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Original Research Article

Hunting practices of the Jahai indigenous community in

northern peninsular Malaysia
Vivienne P.W. Loke a, Teckwyn Lim a, Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz a, b, c, *
a
School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, The University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih, 43500, Kajang,
Selangor, Malaysia
b
Mindset Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Studies, The University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih, 43500,
Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
c
Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla,
666303, Yunnan, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Humans have been part of the ecology of Southeast Asian rainforests for millennia. Un-
Received 12 October 2019 derstanding the hunting practices of forest-dwelling people is important for designing
Accepted 12 October 2019 policies and practices aimed to protect both vulnerable wildlife populations and human
communities. The Jahai people are forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers living in northern
Keywords: Peninsular Malaysia and believed to be direct descendants of the first anatomically
Belum
modern humans that arrived to the Malay Peninsula at least 50,000 years ago. We con-
Subsistence hunting
ducted semi-structured interviews in three Jahai villages around the Royal Belum State
Orang asli
Tropical rainforest
Park, asking about their knowledge and hunting habits of 11 wild mammal species. Spe-
Wildlife cifically, we asked whether they were able to identify and whether they hunted the 11
animals, their relative prey preference, perceived trends of the animals’ populations, and
how they hunted and handled them. Our respondents were familiar with all the species in
the survey. None of the 87 respondents claimed to hunt tigers and elephants. The most
preferred and commonly hunted species were medium-sized arboreal animals (gibbons
and giant squirrels, hunted by >80% of respondents), whereas larger and more dangerous
animals (gaur, sun bear, and tapir) were only hunted by a minority (<10%). The Jahai use
traditional hunting methods, mainly blowpipes, spears, traditional snares, and fire traps
(for smoking animals out of burrows). Only two respondents reported using firearms.
Elephant numbers were perceived to be stable; all the other species were perceived to be
declining moderately. Almost all the meat caught by the Jahai is for self-consumption, very
little is traded with outsiders. The impacts of Jahai hunting on wildlife populations remain
unclear, but our study provides a fundamental understanding of Jahai hunting practices for
future management and conservation purposes.
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author. School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences, The University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih, 43500,
Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail address: ahimsa@camposarceiz.com (A. Campos-Arceiz).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00815
2351-9894/© 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
2 V.P.W. Loke et al. / Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815

1. Introduction

Nomadic hunter-gatherers have lived in Southeast Asia for millennia (Endicott and Endicott, 2012). In parts of Southeast
Asia indigenous people still depend on hunting as their main source of protein (Wilkie and Godoy, 2001; Albrechtsen et al.,
2007). The hunting practices of these communities are affected by biophysical and cultural factors (Read et al., 2010). Bio-
physical factors include the terrain, distance, ease of access to hunting sites, and animals' ecological traits. Cultural factors
include hunters’ personal preferences as well as social requirements and taboos. Cultural proscriptions and prescriptions
often supplement national legal provisions to conserve nature (Read et al., 2010).
The effort invested by an indigenous subsistence hunter was traditionally a function of the distance travelled to obtain a
kill. For example, Smith (2008) described how hunters in western Panama tend to go hunting and obtain their catch within
2 km of their home. But with vehicles and access paths (especially through roads), modern hunters can now travel further and
obtain greater yields (De Souza-Mazurek et al., 2000). Roads also facilitate access to bushmeat markets (Harrison, 2011).
Increased hunting pressure is now reducing wildlife populations even in large and remote protected areas (Bennett et al.,
2000). Studies in Equatorial Guinea have shown that hunting can drastically decline wildlife populations and reduce
diverse faunal communities to only the most resilient species (Fa and Garcia Yuste, 2001; Albrechtsen et al., 2007). Hunting
pressure has caused severe defaunation in tropical rainforests, leading to the local loss of wildlife populations and even to
species extinctions (Galetti and Dirzo, 2013; Dirzo et al., 2014). This results in so-called ‘empty forests’, where the structure
(e.g. trees) may be have been protected but the animal biota has been wiped out by hunting (Redford, 1992; Harrison, 2011). In
the long-term, hunting-induced defaunation has severe impacts on tree regeneration and thus forest structure and
composition (Harrison et al., 2013) potentially affecting even biome-level aboveground biomass (Berzaghi et al., 2019). When
demand for bushmeat exceeds the natural supply, hunting becomes unsustainable, which ultimately affects both the live-
lihood of forest-dwelling people and wildlife populations (Robinson and Bennett, 2004). It is thus crucial that wildlife
conservation efforts consider the factors that shape local hunting practices. While there is a large body of literature describing
hunting patterns in the Amazon, comparatively few studies have been carried out looking at the hunting patterns of
indigenous communities in Southeast Asia (Corlett, 2007).
One group of indigenous communities in Southeast Asia are the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia. The Orang Asli consist
of three major ethnic groups: the Semang (or Negritos), the Senoi, and the Proto-Malay (Nicholas et al., 2010). In 2010, the
Orang Asli had an estimated population of nearly 180,000 people (Leonie et al., 2015). Most Orang Asli communities live near
or within forested areas and continue to engage in some subsistence activities, including swidden farming, hunting, and
gathering (Nicholas et al., 2010). Orang Asli communities assert use and ownership rights over much of the remaining forest
in Peninsular Malaysia, including over some protected areas (Subramaniam, 2015; Lim et al., 2017). These factors make Orang
Asli communities of great relevance for the conservation of Peninsular Malaysia's wildlife and biodiversity.
One group of Orang Asli that is particularly important for conservation are the Jahai hunter-gatherers, a sub-group of the
Semang who live in and around the Royal Belum State Park, one of the Peninsula's most important conservation sites.
Although the dates of arrival are still controversial (e.g. Clarkson et al., 2017; O'Connell et al., 2018) the Jahai are believed to be
direct descendants of the first group of anatomically modern humans to have arrived in the Malay Peninsula at least 50,000
years ago (Hill et al., 2006; Hatin et al., 2011; Yew et al., 2018). The Jahai currently number around 2400 people (Leonie et al.,
2015), most of them living in or around Royal Belum. The Jahai do not cultivate food crops in any sizeable form, other than
very small vegetable plots next to their homes. Hunting and fishing are their main sources of protein.
Jahai men usually go hunting in groups of just two or three, as larger groups are noisier and may scare prey animals away
(Skeat and Blagden, 1906). The most commonly used weapons are blowpipes and poisoned darts, although some older re-
cords show that the Jahai also used bows, spears, and snares (Skeat and Blagden, 1906; Rambo, 1978). After the hunt, the catch
is usually shared within the hunter's family and, if there is a surplus, with the rest of the community (Carey, 1976). Jahai often
raise the orphaned young of the animals they have killed, with baby gibbons, monkeys, and squirrels being kept as pets (van
der Sluys, 2000).
Rambo (1979) observed that the Jahai ate virtually all animals found in their habitat with some exception of taboo animals
such as snakes and snails, with the most commonly hunted species being monkeys, squirrels, and wild boars (Rambo, 1979).
Malaysia's Wildlife Conservation Act (2010) makes it a criminal offence to hunt certain “protected” and “totally protected”
species without a licence. But the Act also permits the Orang Asli the special privilege of being allowed to hunt ten protected
mammal and bird species without a licence (Wildlife Conservation Act, 2010; Leonie et al., 2015; Table S1). However, this
privilege does not extend to the commercial trade of these animals or to hunting within protected areas.
Aziz et al. (2013) suggest that Orang Asli hunting requirements may not be well matched with the provisions of the law
both in terms of meeting the needs of the community and in terms of conservation. They point out that there may be a
disparity between the species that the Orang Asli are permitted to hunt and the species that they actually do hunt for
subsistence. They also add that there may be threatened species such as the sambar deer which could be driven closer to
extinction by indigenous hunting and by non-indigenous parties exploiting the loophole created by the Orang Asli hunting
privileges (i.e. illegally trading with Orang Asli hunters what was supposed to be subsistence hunting). It is clear that studies
of actual hunting practices are needed to address these uncertainties. Here we present a questionnaire-based study with the
general aim of describing the hunting practices of the Jahai. The specific objectives of this study were, for a list of 11 wild
mammal species (with varying degrees of protection and conservation status), to describe Jahai opinions with regards to (1)
prey preference, (2) trends in prey abundance, (3) hunting method, and (4) hunting objective (subsistence or trade).
 V.P.W. Loke et al. / Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815 3

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Study area

The three Jahai settlements chosen for this study, namely Tiang (5
4103500 N, 101
260 4000 E), Kejar (5
480 0600 N 101
240 5300 E)
and Aman Damai (5
400 0400 N 101
2105100 E), are located adjacent to the Royal Belum State Park (hereafter ‘Royal Belum’) in the
northern part of Perak, Peninsular Malaysia (Fig.1). Royal Belum was gazetted as a protected area in 2007 (Schwabe et al., 2015).
It covers an area of 1175 km2, surrounding the northern reaches of Tasik Temengor, a large manmade lake built in the 1970s.
Vegetation in Royal Belum includes lowland dipterocarp, hill dipterocarp and upper dipterocarp forests. There are no roads built
within Royal Belum, however, the villages are accessible by boat. The Jahai are the only permanent inhabitants, but the area is
also patrolled by the armed forces and foreign poachers occasionally enter the park to hunt and fish (Clements et al., 2010).

2.2. Data collection

The data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews, i.e. including a combination of open and closed-ended
questions, in the three villages. First, we conducted a pilot visit to one of the villages (Tiang) in August 2015. Then, we
conducted the interviews in two visits in November 2015 and March 2016. During the pilot visit, we confirmed that only the
men went hunting. Therefore, we approached the adult men available in each village during our data collection period. We
interviewed a total of 87 adult men. The interviews were conducted in Bahasa Melayu (the Malay language) by VL with the
help of two field assistants who were familiar with the Jahai language. All interviews were conducted individually with the
respondents (i.e. on a one-to-one basis).

2.2.1. Questionnaire design

We designed a questionnaire consisting of two main sections, one to record demographic information about the re-
spondents and the other about their hunting practices (see online supplementary material). The first section included in-
formation on the respondents’ age, ethnic group, number of dependents, and main source of income. The second section
included the location of hunting grounds, frequency of hunting trips, hunting methods, and prey preferences.
The 11 wildlife species in our questionnaire included a selection of six large terrestrial mammals (wild boar, sambar deer,
Malayan tapir, gaur, Asian elephant, and Malayan tiger), three smaller terrestrial mammals (Malayan sun bear, barking deer,

Fig. 1. Map of study area showing Peninsular Malaysia and the Royal Belum State Park (inlet), with the three Jahai villages where this study was conducted.
4 V.P.W. Loke et al. / Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815

Table 1
Prey species included in the questionnaire. WCA e schedule of the Wildlife Conservation Act (2010): Schedule 1 species are ‘protected’, requiring a licence to
hunt; Schedule 2 species are ‘totally protected’; Schedule 6 species are species that may be hunted by the Orang Asli without a permit. IUCNeIUCN Redlist
status, <iucnredlist.org> downloaded on 17 April 2019: EN ‘Endangered’, VU ‘Vulnerable’, NT ‘Near Threatened’, LC ‘Least Concern’. MY e DWNP (2010).

Species Mass (kg) WCA IUCN MY

Large terrestrial
Asian elephant Elephas maximus 3000e5000 2 EN VU
Gaur Bos gaurus 650e1000 2 VU VU
Malayan tapir Tapirus indicus 250e540 2 EN NT
Tiger Panthera tigris 91e423 2 EN EN
Wild boar Sus scrofa 50e272 1, 6 LC NT
Sambar deer Rusa unicolor 109e260 1, 6 VU VU
Smaller terrestrial
Malayan sun bear Helarctos malayanus 27e65 2 VU VU
Barking deer Muntiacus muntjak 14e35 1 LC NT
Malayan porcupine Hystrix brachyura 1.0e1.8 1, 6 LC LC
Brush-tailed porcupine Atherurus macrourus 1.0e4.3 1, 6 LC LC
Long-tailed porcupine Trichys fasciculata 1.5e2.3 2 LC LC
Arboreal
White-handed gibbon Hylobates lar 4.4e7.6 2 EN LC
Red giant flying squirrel Petaurista petaurista 1.3e1.7 2 LC LC
Black giant squirrel Ratufa bicolor 1.2e1.5 2 NT LC
Spotted giant flying squirrel Petaurista elegans 1.1e1.4 2 LC LC

and porcupines), and two arboreal mammals (white-handed gibbon and giant squirrels; Table 1). In an interview, we first
presented photographs of each species and asked the respondents whether they could name them and then asked whether
and how the animals were hunted.
Respondents' answers to whether an animal was hunted, were recorded as a binomial (yes or no) response. Preference and
perceived trends in prey abundance were represented as five-step ordinal variables. Preference levels were presented ac-
cording to the following categories: if I see this animal while hunting (1) ‘I always ignore it’, (2) ‘I normally ignore it’, (3) ‘I try to
catch it sometimes’, (4) ‘I normally try to catch it’ and (5) ‘I always try to catch it’ (following Peres and Lake, 2003). Trends in prey
abundance were presented according to the following categories: the species' abundance is (2) ‘much less than before’, (1)
‘less than before’, (0) ‘same’, (1), ‘more than before’ and (2) ‘much more than before’. We used the year when the respondents
started hunting as a benchmark for them to compare the abundance of a species. The results of these questions were presented
as a five-step index, with the lowest values (either 1 or -2) representing lowest preference and much lower abundance than
before; and the highest values (5 or 2) representing highest preference and much higher abundance than before. Hunting
objectives included both subsistence (‘eat on the spot’ and ‘eat at home’), and trade (‘share/trade within the community’, and
‘trade/sell with people outside the community’). Perceptions regarding the changes in abundance of species were sought from
all respondents, regardless of whether they hunted the species or not. Information on hunting taboos and cultural factors
applied in their hunting activities were gathered through follow-up open-ended questions and informal discussions.

2.3. Data analyses

We used the Minitab 17 statistical software to carry out the statistical tests and R (version 3.2.4; R Core Team, 2016) to plot
graphs. We used ordinal logistic regression with a 0.05 significance level to analyse the preferences and perceived trends in
prey abundance; and Poisson regression to analyse the use of different hunting methods and hunting objectives.

2.4. Ethics statement

Ethics approval for this participant contact study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of
Science of the University of Nottingham Malaysia. Research was conducted in line with the University of Nottingham Research
Code of Conduct. Written consent was not required, and verbal agreement to participate in the survey was considered as
consent. Participants were informed before commencement that they could withdraw at any stage while being surveyed, and
that such withdrawal would render their entire participation void. They were also informed that data collection was
anonymous, and that there would be no capacity for any individual to be identified based on their survey responses.

3. Results

3.1. Sample description

We interviewed 87 villagers: 45 respondents in Tiang, 32 in Kejar, and 10 in Aman Damai. Eighty-four respondents were
Jahai and three were Temiar (a sub-group of the Senoi), who had married into the community. The values stated here are
mean ± SD. The number of people per household was 5.2 ± 2.2 (range ¼ 1e9). The average age of respondents was 34.5 ± 13.3
 V.P.W. Loke et al. / Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815 5

Fig. 2. Percentage of respondents that reported to hunt the different wildlife species in each of the three Jahai villages. N ¼ 10 respondents in Aman Damai, 32 in
Kejar, and 44 in Tiang.

years (range ¼ 15e80), and the average age in which they started hunting was 15.0 ± 3.7 years (range ¼ 8e30). The furthest
they travelled from the village to hunt was 2.9 ± 1.4 h of walking (range ¼ 0.5e6 h, N ¼ 50 respondents). The average monthly
income was RM690 ± 1114 (range ¼ RM 15e5000 or USD168 ± 271, range 4e1215 at March 2016 exchange rate; N ¼ 23 re-
spondents). Respondents’ main source of income was derived from fishing and collecting forest produce, which they sold to
sundry shops and traders at an informal local market in the nearby Banding island.

3.2. Species knowledge and hunting patterns

A total of 82 (94%) respondents practiced hunting. All respondents, including those who did not hunt, correctly identified
all the 11 species in the photographs. Nine of the 11 species were reportedly hunted by at least one of the respondents (Fig. 2).
The most commonly hunted animals were the arboreal mammals (hunted by > 80% of respondents), followed by wild boars
and porcupines (48e54%), two deer species (sambar and barking deer; 25%). The gaur, Malayan sun bear, and Malayan tapir
were hunted by a minority (<10%), and nobody claimed to hunt either elephants or tigers (Fig. 2). The age of the hunter did not
affect the species hunted (interaction age*species: p ¼ 0.27). The choice of prey species, however, varied across villages
(interaction village*species: p < 0.001; Fig. 2). Sun bears, gaurs, and Malayan tapirs were exclusively hunted in Tiang, the
largest village; sambar and barking deer were also more commonly hunted in Tiang than in the other two villages; on the
other hand, gibbons, wild boars, and porcupines were more commonly hunted in Kejar (Fig. 2).

3.3. Prey preference

Hunters' preferences differed significantly across villages (interaction species*village: chi-sq ¼ 53.5, df ¼ 7, p < 0.001;
Fig. 3), were affected by hunters' age (interaction age*species: chi-sq ¼ 18.8, df ¼ 8, p ¼ 0.016), and were strongly correlated
with the actual hunting patterns (Spearman's rho ¼ 0.76, p ¼ 0.017, N ¼ 9). Giant squirrels and white-handed gibbons were
the most preferred species, followed by porcupines (porcupines were more preferred in Kejar than in the other two villages;
Fig. 3); the Malayan tapir was the fourth most preferred species, although it was reportedly hunted by less than 10% of the
respondents (Fig. 3); wild boars on the other hand, were the sixth most preferred (although they are the third most commonly
hunted species; Figs. 2 and 3). Sambar deer, sun bears, and gaurs were more preferred in Tiang than in the other villages
(Fig. 3).

3.4. Perceived trends in prey abundance

All species, except elephants, were perceived to be declining moderately (Fig. 4). The perception of abundance differed
significantly between species (chi-sq ¼ 82.6, df ¼ 10, p-value < 0.001; Fig. 4) but was not affected by village (interaction
6 V.P.W. Loke et al. / Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815

Fig. 3. Jahai hunter preferences for different prey species in the three Jahai villages studied. Values are mean ± SE. Preference is recorded in the following 5-step
ordinal scale: 1 ¼ ‘I always ignore it’; 2 ¼ ‘I normally ignore it’; 3 ¼ ‘I try to catch it sometimes’; 4 ¼ ‘I normally try to catch it’; and 5 ¼ ‘I always try to catch it’.

village*species: chi-sq ¼ 24.1, df ¼ 20, p-value ¼ 0.24) or the age of the respondent (interaction age*species: chi-sq ¼ 12.0,
df ¼ 10, p-value ¼ 0.28). While elephant numbers were perceived as stable, porcupines, gaurs, and barking deer were
perceived to be declining the most. In any case, no species was described as being ‘much less abundant than before’ (Fig. 4).
The perceived trends in prey abundance did not correlate with the species relative preference as prey (Spearman's rho ¼ 0.07,
p ¼ 0.86, N ¼ 9), the reported hunting frequency (Spearman's rho ¼ 0.11, p ¼ 0.75, N ¼ 11), or species body mass (Spearman's
rho ¼ 0.14, p ¼ 0.69, N ¼ 11).

3.5. Hunting method

Our respondents reported using five different hunting methods: blowpipes, spears, snares, shotguns, and fire traps (Fig. 5).
Blowpipes were the most common hunting tool, used by the Jahai to hunt all species, but especially for arboreal animals (100%

Fig. 4. Jahai hunter perception on trends in prey abundance over time (i.e. since the hunter started hunting). Black bars represent SE. Perceived change is
represented in the following 5-step ordinal scale: 2 ¼ ‘the species is much less abundant than before’; 1 ‘less than before’; 0 ‘same as before’; 1 ¼ ‘more than
before’; and 2 ‘much more abundant than before’.
 V.P.W. Loke et al. / Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815 7

Fig. 5. Jahai hunting methods employed for each prey species.

of hunts; Fig. 5). Traditional snares and spears were also very common and used to hunt all the terrestrial species (Fig. 5).
Traditional snares, in this context, are made out of bamboo or tree branches by the Jahai themselves. Firearms were reportedly
used only to hunt sambar deer and only by two respondents (7% of those who hunt sambar deer). Fire traps were used only to
hunt porcupines (i.e. setting fire to the porcupine burrows). The hunting method differed significantly for the different species
(chi-sq ¼ 312.6, df ¼ 23, p-value < 0.001).

3.6. Hunting objectives

Most prey were either eaten at home or shared within the community (Fig. 6). From our list of prey species, only por-
cupines were reportedly traded with outsiders and this trade was only reported by a single respondent. A few species were
occasionally eaten on the spot (giant squirrel, white-handed gibbon, and porcupine). Other species were mostly eaten at
home or shared within the community. The hunting objectives differed significantly for the different species hunted (chi-
sq ¼ 258.6, df ¼ 21; p-value < 0.001).

4. Discussion

The Jahai were familiar with the mammal species included in this study and reported hunting all except tigers and ele-
phants. There was a clear preference for arboreal prey, with the giant squirrel and the white-handed gibbon as the most
commonly hunted species. Unlike communities in Amazonia (Peres, 2000; Peres and Palacios, 2007; Mesquita and Barreto,
2015), the Jahai do not necessarily prefer larger prey species. Rather, they prefer medium-sized arboreal mammals, perhaps
because they are easier to hunt with traditional blowpipes. This is consistent with the findings for other Orang Asli com-
munities (Endicott, 1979; Kuchikura, 1988). In general, the Jahai continue to use traditional hunting methods. The Jahai
hunters perceived ten of the 11 wildlife species to be somewhat less abundant than before; elephants were the only species
considered to have stable numbers; no species was considered to be increasing. Hunting was mainly for self-consumption and
trading of meat with outsiders was reported to be very rare. There were some differences in hunting habits and prey pref-
erences among the three villages we studied. For example, large animals such as gaur, tapirs, and sun bears were exclusively
hunted in Tiang, the largest of the three villages. There was a correlation between the Jahai prey preference and actual hunting
practices but there were also some mismatches between both. Tapirs, for example, were more preferred than they were
actually hunted. We do not know why this discrepancy. Wild boars, on the other hand, were hunted more frequently than
their relative preference, probably due to their abundance and relative ease to find in Belum.
Our findings are consistent with studies on a few other indigenous groups in Malaysia. For example, the Temiar com-
munity consider gaurs, elephants, and tigers as ‘animals to be feared’ (Benjamin, 2014). These species were never hunted for
food by the Temiar, even though they are well aware that other people might hunt them for food. Similarly, the Jahai hunters
did not hunt elephants and tigers, and only a minority (<10%) of hunters hunted gaurs. Our respondents explained that some
8 V.P.W. Loke et al. / Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815

Fig. 6. Jahai hunting objectives for each prey species.

species are considered taboo for certain people under certain circumstances (e.g. porcupines for pregnant women) and
therefore not hunted all the time. Similar beliefs have been described for the Temiar, where certain groups of people,
especially pregnant women and children, are prohibited by taboo from consuming certain species such as the white-handed
gibbon, red giant flying squirrel, barking deer, and porcupines (Benjamin, 2014). The consumption of tabooed species is
believed to cause illness. Similar taboos against eating gibbons and barking deer are found in Sarawak's Iban community
(Horowitz, 1998). Rambo (1979) also described that the fear of tigers is well-founded, stemming from actual memories of
tigers killing Jahai within people's lifetimes. A similar finding applies to the Batek subethnic group, where the tiger is never
treated as a game or commodity (Lye, 2004). Although all hunting was carried out by the men in the Jahai communities we
studied, women from the Batek subethnic group have been reported to hunt (Endicott and Endicott, 2012). Batek women hunt
only small species such as squirrels and birds and most of the time for recreational purposes (Endicott and Endicott, 2012).
Different animal species have different resilience to hunting pressures. Generally, preferred prey species are more likely to
become rare and have lower population densities (Emmons, 1984; Fragoso, 1991; Mena et al., 2000; Dirzo et al., 2014). In the
Amazonian forests, for example, tapirs are highly preferred and often show signs of depletion due to overhunting (Fragoso,
1991; Mena et al., 2000). In Royal Belum, all species except elephants were perceived to be in decline to some extent but none
was considered to be ‘much less abundant than before’. There was no correlation between the perceived declining patterns
and the Jahai's preference of the different prey species or their body mass. Species such as the barking deer and porcupine
were reported to be declining to a greater extent than we expected (Fig. 4). Caution, however, is necessary because some of
the most preferred prey species, e.g. giant squirrels and gibbons, have low reproduction rates (Lee et al., 1993; Alvard, 2000;
Barelli et al., 2008; Thorington et al., 2012). Large mammals such as the Malayan sun bear, gaur, sambar deer, Malayan tapir,
Malayan tiger and Asian elephant also have slow reproductive rates and reach maturity at a relatively old age (McKinney,
1997; Lee and Lee, 2001; Macdonald, 2009). Wild boars, on the other hand, have greater resilience to hunting and are one
of the few large-bodied mammals still abundant in heavily hunted regions of the world (Alvard, 2000). Changes in the Jahai
hunting practice might have negative impacts on the populations of these species with low reproductive rates.
The Jahai, like many other indigenous communities around the world (Mena et al., 2000; Endicott and Endicott, 2012),
continue to rely on traditional weapons such as blowpipes and spears. In contrast, groups like the Amazonian Huoarani and
the Iban from Borneo have readily adopted new technologies such as shotguns in their hunting practices (Kelley and Yost,
1983; Horowitz, 1998). Traditional weapons such as blowpipes are silent and therefore, effective to hunt arboreal mam-
mals (Corlett, 2007; Endicott and Endicott, 2012); especially for animals that move in groups because if the target were to be
missed, other individuals in the group would not be scared away (Endicott, 1984; Peres, 1990). Spears are effective in hunting
larger mammals (Mena et al., 2000; Corlett, 2007) that are difficult to kill with blowpipe. The Jahai reported using spears to
hunt wild boar, deer, gaur, and tapir. The use of spears, however, was reported mainly by elderly hunters. The younger
generation of Jahai hunters seem to be less keen on using spears, perhaps because of the higher risks of injury to the hunter
associated with using a spear. Older records by Skeat and Blagden (1906) note that the Semang were very skilled in using
bows and spears. They were able to hunt large and powerful animals like elephants and rhinoceros using spears and sharp-
 V.P.W. Loke et al. / Global Ecology and Conservation 21 (2020) e00815 9

pointed sticks. The use of shotguns amongst the Jahai was found to be very uncommon (only 2 out of 87 respondents) and
they were only used to hunt sambar deer. An increase in the use of firearms could have very negative impacts on the local
wildlife populations (Alvard and Kaplan, 1991; Kramer, 2001; Jerozolimski and Peres, 2003). The skills and weapon usage of
the Jahai may well explain their preference for the arboreal mammals and less so for large-bodied mammals.
Very little bushmeat was reportedly traded or sold to outsiders. This could be due to the inaccessibility of the villages to
outsiders. The distance from the Jahai villages to the nearest market e Banding Island e is about 13e30 km, depending on the
village. Travelling by boat requires cash to purchase petrol, and many of our respondents could not afford it. One of the
respondents, however, reported to have traded porcupines in Banding. Although pangolins (Manis javanica) were not
included in this study, some of the villagers did mention selling some in Banding.
We know that subsistence hunting by indigenous communities can extirpate prey populations (Peres, 2000; Dirzo et al.,
2014) and the loss of prey species can damage ecosystem functions and cause changes in selective pressure in important traits
of many species (Maisels et al., 2001; Galetti and Dirzo, 2013). For conservation efforts and wildlife hunting to be compatible,
we require collaboration between local people, researchers, and the authorities (Milner-Gulland and Bennett, 2003). Efforts to
restrict Jahai hunting in Royal Belum need to take into account the socio-economic impact of such a move on the community
by considering the price and availability of alternative protein sources (e.g. fish from Temengor Lake and external sources).
The list of “wildlife for aborigine's consumption” in the Wildlife Conservation Act (2010) does not include the giant squirrels
and gibbons that are the Jahai's preferred prey species (they are totally protected; Table 1), but conversely the list does include
the vulnerable sambar deer which are relatively low in terms of both prey preference and actual prey frequency reported
(Aziz et al., 2013; Kimbrough, 2013). Similarly, the hunting grounds of the Jahai community in this study are almost all within
the boundaries of Royal Belum, in which all hunting is prohibited under the current provisions of the Perak State Park
Corporation Enactment 2001. The enactment does not allow any form of natural resource exploitation within the park and
does not grant any exemptions for the Orang Asli living in and around the park. Indeed, this enactment does not give the
Orang Asli any rights to enter the park without a permit. This shows a clear disparity between the provisions of the Perak state
statutes and the customs and traditions of the Jahai. Resolving this disparity will be fundamental to engaging the Orang Asli in
supporting the conservation objectives of the park.
Our study has several notable caveats. We did not investigate hunting frequency, we did not map the actual locations of
hunting grounds, and we did not investigate the actual impact of hunting on prey populations. We note the possibility of bias
in respondents answering questions about trends in prey abundance. However, the general candour of the respondents and
their consistent willingness to admit hunting totally protected species (including gibbons, tapirs, and gaurs) suggest that our
respondents were ignorant of the provisions of the law or honest in their responses despite knowing that they contravened
the law. Nonetheless, tools to allow respondents to give anonymous replies to sensitive questions, such as the unmatched-
count technique, could be explored in future studies (Droitcour et al., 1991; Bartholomew, 2017).
Future studies could quantify actual hunting pressure and its impacts, the villagers’ actual protein needs and potential
alternative sources. Most importantly, it is necessary to determine a sound basis to ensure that community hunting meets the
needs of the community without compromising species conservation in Royal Belum. A better understanding of the rela-
tionship of forest-dwelling Orang Asli communities with wildlife is important to design conservation policies and practices
that serve the long-term protection of these wildlife species and the interests of the Orang Asli communities, the customary
owners of the land.

Acknowledgements

This study is part of the Management & Ecology of Malaysian Elephants (MEME), a joint research project between the
Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) Peninsular Malaysia and the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
(UNMC). We are very grateful to DWNP, and especially to Dato’ Abdul Kadir bin Abu Hashim and Dato’ Abdul Rasid Samsudin,
DWNP's current and former Director Generals, and to the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA), for the permits to
conduct this research and for the continuous support in the field. Field activities were partially funded by Yayasan Sime Darby
(grant M0005.54.04) and UNMC's School of Bioscience. Alicia Solana-Mena, Param Bin Pura and Rizuan Bin Angah made the
field work possible and helped with the interviews; Tapan Nathan provided general feedback on the study; Yen Yi Loo, Lisa
Ong, and Yao Hua Law commented on different versions of the manuscript; and Li Shuen Ng prepared the map in Fig. 1 e we
are very grateful to all of them for their kind support.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00815.

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