Stump-tailed Macaque
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The stump-tailed macaque (''Macaca arctoides''), also called the bear macaque, is a species of
macaque The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and (in one instance) Gibraltar. Macaques are principally ...
native to
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
and
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
. In India, it occurs south of the
Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
, in the northeastern part of the country. Its range in India extends from
Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
and
Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...
to eastern Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. It is primarily
frugivorous A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance and ...
, but eats many types of vegetation, such as seeds, leaves and roots, but also hunts freshwater crabs,
frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
s,
bird egg Bird eggs are laid by the females and range in quantity from one (as in condors) to up to seventeen (the grey partridge). Clutch size may vary latitudinally within a species. Some birds lay eggs even when the eggs have not been fertilized; it is ...
s and
insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s.


Characteristics

The stump-tailed macaque has long, thick, dark brown fur covering its body, but its face and its short tail, which measures between , are hairless. Infants are born white and darken as they mature. As they age, their bright pink or red faces darken to brown or nearly black and lose most of their hair. Males are larger than females, measuring long and weighing , while females measure and weigh . Males'
canine teeth In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dog teeth, or (in the context of the upper jaw) fangs, eye teeth, vampire teeth, or vampire fangs, are the relatively long, pointed teeth. They can appear more flattened howeve ...
, which are important for establishing dominance within social groups, are more elongated than those of the females. Like all macaques, this species has cheek pouches to store food for short periods of time.


Distribution and habitat

This
Old World monkey Old World monkey is the common English name for a family of primates known taxonomically as the Cercopithecidae (). Twenty-four genera and 138 species are recognized, making it the largest primate family. Old World monkey genera include baboons ...
travels quadrupedally, usually on the ground, as it is not very agile in trees. It is generally found in
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...
, at different
elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
s depending on the amount of rainfall in the area. It depends on
rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
s for food and shelter, and is not found in dry forests except where it ranges in the Himalayan region of India, only spending time in
secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...
s if it is bordering
old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...
tropical forests. With its thick fur, the stump-tailed macaque can live in cold climates at elevations up to . It is distributed from northeastern
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and southern
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
into the northwest tip of West
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
on the
Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
. It is also found in
Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
,
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
,
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
and
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. It is possibly extinct in
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. No global population estimate is available. In Cambodia, a declining population of 230 is reported from
Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary ( Khmer: ដែនជម្រកសត្វព្រៃកែវសីមា) is a protected area of mixed seasonal tropical forest in eastern Cambodia, located in Mondulkiri and Kratié provinces. The area was f ...
. A study population was introduced to Tanaxpillo, an uninhabited island in
Lake Catemaco Laguna Catemaco ( es, Laguna de Catemaco) is a freshwater lake located at the center of the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas in south central Veracruz near the city of Catemaco, in east central Mexico. Name The word lagoon in English, and ''laguna'' in Sp ...
,
Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in 1974, where it ranges in seminatural conditions. 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.


Behaviour and ecology

Stump-tailed macaque generally share the same social structure of any macaque species with a linear dominance hierarchy that is rigid and hereditary in females yet fluctuates among males based on their fighting ability and social manoeuvring, but what makes stump-tail macaques truly unique is their ability to defuse intense confrontations and maintain a high degree of pacifism and harmony in their troop, thanks to their surprisingly rich repertoire of reconciliation tactics. This species has no lasting pair bonds and is truly promiscuous, a staple for macaques. Physical violence very rarely occurs, and although minor scraps often flair up and physical intimidation displays occur, they tend to quickly be resolved, resulting in this species being labelled as peaceful. Stump-tailed macaques are remarkably unfussy in their eating habits though fruit generally is a staple part of their diet. Stump-tail macaques have a large, bulky, muscular build with thick, solid limbs, making them very mobile on land yet quite ungainly in trees, and this unusual physique for a macaque may be responsible for this species unique tendency to consume larger quantities of meat than other macaque species. Stump-tail macaques feed on very large quantities of insects, small animals and eggs.


Reproduction

A study population of female stump-tailed macaques was found to have increased levels of steroid sex hormones, specifically 17β-estradiol and progesterone levels. 17β-estradiol levels were significantly greater during summer and fall and progesterone levels were significantly greater during summer, fall and winter. This explains that stump-tailed macaques 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.


See also

* Britches – an infant stump-tailed macaque used in sight-deprivation experiments, which was stolen from the laboratory by the
Animal Liberation Front The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is an international, Leaderless resistance, leaderless, decentralized political and social resistance movement that engages in and promotes non-violent direct action in protest against incidents of animal cruelt ...
. *
List of endangered and protected species of China The endangered species of China may include any wildlife species designated for protection by the national government of China or listed as endangered by international organizations such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered S ...


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q266955 stump-tailed macaque Primates of Southeast Asia Mammals of Bangladesh Mammals of India Mammals of Thailand Mammals of Vietnam Mammals of Laos Mammals of Cambodia Mammals of Malaysia Mammals of China Mammals of Myanmar Fauna of Yunnan stump-tailed macaque Taxa named by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire