Pest or Pest Control? The study of pig-tailed macaques in oil palm plantations

Dr Nadine Ruppert, Senior Lecturer and Zoologist, School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)

04-Nov-19 15:00

Pest or Pest Control? The study of pig-tailed macaques in oil palm plantations

Pause
Embed

Pig-tailed macaques have a bad reputation as crop raiders, widely regarded as a pest in agricultural crops, including oil palm. But a new study shows they only cause only relatively minor losses in palm oil yield, and more importantly, they actively search for rats, a major oil palm pest. So are macaques acting as a biological pest control in oil palm plantations fringing their forest habitat? We speak to Dr Nadine Ruppert, a senior lecturer and zoologist at the School of Biological Sciences in Universiti Sains Malaysia, and the corresponding author for this study.

Produced by: Juliet Jacobs

Presented by: Juliet Jacobs

This and more than 60,000 other podcasts in your hand. Download the all new BFM mobile app.

Categories: Trends and Forecasts, Markets, Education, Environment, Science

Tags: The Bigger Picture, Earth Matters, macaques, rat-eating macaques, oil palm, deforestation, plantation,

Today’s Shows

11:00 AM

Best of Enterprise

(REPEAT) Mimrah Mahmood, VP of Enterprise APAC at Meltwater, joins BFM to unpack their Digital 2026 Global Overview Report.

12:00 PM

Just For Kicks

(REPEAT) It's the FA Cup weekend, and so we look forward to the matches in the 3rd round.

1:00 PM

A Bit of Culture

(REPEAT) Dhanya Nair and Sudais Ferhard join Kam Raslan as they talk about protecting your peace, disaster paranoia and movies that are now unbearable!

2:00 PM

Ringgit & Sense

(REPEAT) Terence Ng, Associate Director of Equities at AIIMAN Asset Management, on the stock-picking strategies and overcoming common investor mindsets.

2:30 PM

The Property Show

(REPEAT) Dr Chua Yangliang, Head of Research and Consultancy for Southeast Asia at JLL, and Jamie Tan, Managing Director and Head of Valuation and Risk Advisory at JLL Malaysia, discusses the outlook for Malaysia's property market in 2026.

3:00 PM

Best of The Bigger Picture

(REPEAT) We speak to Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj about his new book, Notes on the Way Forward, which takes a sharp look at the structural failures of capitalism and how we can build a better world for everybody.

4:00 PM

Best of Evening Edition

(REPEAT) With TIME Magazine voting AI as their 'Person of the Year' of 2025, we discuss whether the past year has been a turning point for AI, and what 2026 will bring in terms of technological, economical and ethical breakthroughs.

5:00 PM

BBC World Service

BFM presents the BBC World Service, which provides in-depth coverage of issues from around the world.

PROGRAMMES