Family: Cercopithecidae.
Status: Endangered.
Size: Height 1.5 to 2 ft., weight 10 to 30 lbs.
Diet: Omnivore.
Characteristics: Social, active, intelligent.
Area: Asia.
Offspring: One every other year.
· Macaques are often used in laboratory experiments—currently, they’re used in HIV experiments.
· The Lion-tailed macaque is the most endangered macaque, and one of the most critically endangered mammals in the world.
· The only macaque living naturally outside Asia is the Barbary ape of northern Africa.
· Researchers have found that pig-tailed macaques are highly intelligent and mischievous.
· They can carry food in their cheek pouches.
The pig-tailed macaque is named for the short tail that curls over its
back. These monkeys can walk upright, but usually use all four feet. They fur
is a soft brown, with white on their bellies and hairless toes, fingers, ears
and face. Pig-tailed macaques live in troops of 3 to 45 individuals of both
males and females. They spend their days on the forest floor, but climb trees
to obtain fruit, which makes up as much as 90% of their diet. Leaves, sprouts,
mushrooms, roots and insects make up the other 10%. Macaques also scurry up
trees rapidly to escape predators and they also sleep in trees at night. Within
the troops, there is a social structure and the highest ranked members eat
first. Pig-tailed macaques tend to be quieter than other species of
macaques—it’s believed that this is a technique they’ve developed to avoid predators
while on the ground. In Thailand, pig-tailed macaques are captured and trained for three to
six months at a special school to work on coconut plantations, retrieving the
coconuts from the trees. At the school, they’re trained to recognize ripe
coconuts from unripe ones. They’re kept on a long leash and are able to pick
800 to 1,000 coconuts per day.
The pigtailed macaque is found in southeastern Asia, in forested areas of countries such as Burma, Borneo, Sumatra, Indonesia, Laos, Malay Peninsula, Thailand, and Vietnam. There are approximately 900,000 pig-tailed macaques left in the wild. Their decline is due to several reasons including heavy logging of the forests in which they live; they’re hunted for meat; they’re captured for use in the pet trade as well as for use in medical and cosmetic laboratory experiments.
A female becomes sexually mature at age four, and is then approached by
males in the troop, but the choice of a mate is hers. Pregnancy lasts six
months and mothers are very protective of their babies, carrying them
everywhere and not allowing anyone else to touch them. The baby macaque nurses
for up to one year. Pig-tailed macaques have a lifespan of over 26 years.