Stump-tailed macaque
Species of Old World monkey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides), also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. In India, they can be found south of the Brahmaputra River, in the northeastern part of the country.[3] The range in India extends from Assam and Meghalaya to eastern Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.[4]
| Stump-tailed macaque | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Family: | Cercopithecidae |
| Genus: | Macaca |
| Species: | M. arctoides[2] |
| Binomial name | |
| Macaca arctoides[2] (I. Geoffroy, 1831) | |
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| Stump-tailed macaque range (blue – native, red – introduced, orange – possibly extinct) | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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These monkeys are primarily frugivorous but eat many types of vegetation, including seeds, leaves, and roots. They also hunt freshwater crabs, frogs, bird eggs and insects.[5]
Characteristics
Stump-tailed macaques have long, thick, fur, and vary widely in their appearance, relative to other primates.[6] Their fur can be gray, brown, reddish, or black, and their faces maybe have freckles or irregular patches.[6] Their short tail ranges between 32 and 69 mm (1.3 and 2.7 in). Like other macaques, they have cheek pouches to store food for short periods of time.[5] Infants are born white and darken as they mature.[5] As they age, their bright pink or red faces darken to brown or nearly black and lose most of the hair.[5] Males are larger than females, measuring 51.7–65 cm (20.4–25.6 in) long and weighing 9.7–10.2 kg (21–22 lb), while females measure 48.5–58.5 cm (19.1–23.0 in) and weigh 7.5–9.1 kg (17–20 lb).[5] Males' canine teeth, which are important for establishing dominance within social groups, are more elongated than those of the females.[5]
Distribution and habitat
The stump-tailed macaque ranges from northeastern India, Myanmar, Thailand and the northwest tip of Peninsular Malaysia to Laos, Cambodia Vietnam and southern China. These monkeys inhabit evergreen and tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests at elevations of up to 4,000 m (13,000 ft).[1] They depend on rainforests for food and shelter, only spending time in secondary forests if it is bordering old-growth forest tropical forests.[5] They may be extinct in Bangladesh.[1]
In Cambodia, a population of 230 individuals is reported in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary.[7][8]
A study population was introduced to Tanaxpillo, an uninhabited island in Lake Catemaco, Veracruz, Mexico in 1974, where it ranges in seminatural conditions.[5] Most information on the species comes from the introduced population on Tanaxpillo and other captive settings, as few long-term studies have been conducted on the stump-tailed macaque in the wild.[5]
Behaviour and ecology
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Stump-tailed macaques share a similar social structure with other macaque species, with a linear, hereditary dominance hierarchy hereditary in females and fluctuating among males based on their fighting ability and social maneuvering. Compared to rhesus and long-tail macaques, stump-tails defuse intense confrontations, are relatively tolerant of group members, and have a surprisingly rich repertoire of reconciliation tactics.[9]
Reproduction
A study population of female stump-tailed macaques was found to have two mating seasons per year: one in summer (July–August) and one in fall (November). This is supported by the distribution of birth frequency in stump-tailed macaques.[10]
See also
- Britches – an infant stump-tailed macaque used in sight-deprivation experiments, which was stolen from the laboratory by the Animal Liberation Front.
- List of endangered and protected species of China