India, Feb. 19 -- A recent scientific analysis of lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) across fragmented landscapes of the Western Ghats has produced an unexpected finding. Instead of declining uniformly, several populations of this endangered primate are holding steady and, in some locations, even increasing within plantation-dominated terrains and isolated forest fragments. Long-term demographic comparisons from the Anamalai landscape of Tamil Nadu show that population trends vary sharply between intact rainforests and human-modified habitats, with some plantation-embedded fragments sustaining viable multi-group populations for decades.

Researchers attribute this persistence to behavioural flexibility, adaptive ranging patterns and th...