Scientists pull paper from journal over Arunachal mention

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

Indian scientists were forced to withdraw a paper in an international peer-reviewed journal published from China on the grounds that it could not mention Arunachal Pradesh.

Details:

Indian scientists Dr Mukesh Thakur, Lalit Kumar Sharma, and Avijit Ghosh were forced to withdraw a paper on the White-Cheeked Macaque (Macaca leucogenys) on the grounds that it could not mention Arunachal Pradesh as the sampling site.
The Chinese government contested the inclusion of Arunachal Pradesh in the study, claiming it did not align with their defined map.
Paper title: Two Y chromosome lineages in White-Cheeked Macaque (Macaca leucogenys)’
The journal Wildlife Letters is a recently launched international peer-reviewed journal and is published from Northeast Forestry University in China.

White-Cheeked Macaque (Macaca leucogenys):

It is a species of macaque found only in Mêdog County in southeastern Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India.
- The forests in Mêdog, Tibet are protected by the YarlungZangbo Grand Canyon Nature Reserve.
They live in forest habitats, from tropical forests to primary and secondary evergreen broad-leaved forests and mixed broadleaf-conifer forests.
The species was first described by Chinese primatologists Cheng Li, Chao Zhao, and Peng-Fei Fan, in the American Journal of Primatology in 2015.
It is one of twenty-three extant species in the genus Macaca, and the most recent to be formally described to science. While the species’ exact conservation status has not yet been determined, it is likely threatened by poaching, deforestation, and increased human development of its habitat, much like the other primates which inhabit the area.
They live in small multi-male multi-female groups. When the white-cheeked macaque detects the presence of humans it emits a loud high-pitched alarm call, flees, and climbs trees. This call is distinct in frequency from the Assam macaque.

Source of this article: The Hindu