Antara 11 Nov 10;
Boyolali (ANTARA News) - A few thousand monkeys had moved from the slopes of erupting Mount Merapi to those of Mount Merbabu in Central Java Province over the past week, a villager said.
Parto told ANTARA News on Thursday that the exodus was likely triggered by the eruptions` impacts that had threatened those animals` food reserves.
This 80-year-old resident of Blumbangsari hamlet, Samiran village, Selo sub-district, Boyolali district, Central Java, said he always saw the monkeys crossing his village`s streets to the Mt Merbabu slopes.
Parto said those brown monkeys moved from their original habitat on the slopes of Mount Merapi to Mount Merbabu because they might have got problems with food reserves as a result of volcanic ash.
The monkeys were also likely unable to keep living with the heat of the smoldering Mount Merapi`s hot clouds of ash and lava, he said.
"The monkeys have been seen moving to the Mount Merbabu`s slopes over this past week. They cross the main road of Selo-Magelang route which has been part of the mountain`s areas," he said.
Another villager named Slamet Sutanto, 40, said he also saw the exodus of Mount Merapi`s monkeys on the main road. Many crossed the road on their way to the Mount Merbabu`s slopes.
Those monkeys ate remaining fruits and vegetables available on the left and right sides of the road, he said.
According to Head of Mount Merbabu National Park Dulhadi, the exodus of Mount Merapi monkeys was triggered by the running out of food stocks in their habitat.
The heat of Mount Merapi`s hot clouds also forced them to find a new habitat, he said.
Mount Merapi, located on the border between two provinces, lies geographically close to Yogyakarta but is officially part of Central Java.
The death toll of the volcano`s fatal eruptions on October 26 and November 5 had so far reached 151.
The volcano`s eruptions spewed hot clouds of ash and lava into the air and sent lava down its many slopes.
Besides killing and injuring several hundred people, the Mount Merapi eruptions had also damaged 867 hectares of forest on the volcano`s slopes in Sleman District, Yogyakarta, with the losses estimated at Rp33 billion.
The damaged forest areas consisted of Mt Merapi National Park, community forests and local people`s plantation areas
Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, whose eruptions have regularly been detected since 1548.(*)
