The Tibetan macaque (''Macaca thibetana''), also known as the Chinese stump-tailed macaque or Milne-Edwards' macaque, is a macaque species found from eastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

east to

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

and north to

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

in China. It has also been reported 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 ...

. This species lives in subtropical forests (mixed

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

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, whic ...

) at

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 § Ver ...

s from above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

Taxonomy

There are four recognized subspecies: * ''M. t. thibetana'' * ''M. t. esau'' * ''M. t. guiahouensis'' * ''M. t. huangshanensis''

Physical description

The Tibetan macaque is the largest species of macaque and one of the largest monkeys found in Asia. Only the proboscis monkey and the larger species of

gray langur Gray langurs, also called Hanuman langurs and Hanuman monkeys, are Old World monkeys native to the Indian subcontinent constituting the genus ''Semnopithecus''. Traditionally only one species ''Semnopithecus entellus'' was recognized, but since a ...

come close to match their size among Asian monkeys. Males are the larger sex, commonly attaining a weight of and length of long, with a maximum record weight of . Females, in contrast, weigh and measure long. The stump-like tail adds only , with females having a considerably shorter tail. The fur is well-suited to the species' cold environments being long, dense and brown on the back with creamy-buff to grey coloration on the underparts. Some adults are quite dark brown on the back, while others are basically a sandy yellowish-brown color. They have a prominent, pale-buff beard and long

whiskers Vibrissae (; singular: vibrissa; ), more generally called Whiskers, are a type of stiff, functional hair used by mammals to sense their environment. These hairs are finely specialised for this purpose, whereas other types of hair are coarse ...

, but have a hairless face. The face is pale pinkish in males but is a more vivid, reddish-pink in females. The infants have silver-and-black fur that changes to its adult color at the age of two.Tibetan macaque videos, photos and facts – Macaca thibetana
. ARKive (2006-12-22). Retrieved on 2012-08-21. Male Tibetan Macaque.jpg, Male Tibetan macaque. Female Tibetan Macaque.jpg, Female Tibetan macaque breastfeeding infant. Young Tibetan Macaque.jpg, Young Tibetan macaque.

Behaviour

The Tibetan macaque lives in mixed sex groups. In their complex social system, females remain for life in their natal group, but males disperse shortly after their adolescence (at about 8 years old). Macaque societies are hierarchical, with higher-ranking males getting better access to the resources, namely food and sexually-receptive females. Alpha males dominate the group, being those that are typically large, strong and newly mature. As they age, males tend to gradually lose their social standing and are frequently subject to challenges for dominance from other males. Such conflicts are frequently quite violent and males may kill each other in battle. Studies of Tibetan macaques at

Mount Emei Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a mountain in Sichuan Province, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are know ...

and

Huangshan Mountains Huangshan (),Bernstein, pp. 125–127. literally meaning the Yellow Mountain(s), is a mountain range in southern Anhui Province in eastern China. It was originally called “Yishan”, and it was renamed because of a legend that Emperor Xuany ...

, China, found the average tenure for an alpha male only lasted about one year. When troop size becomes quite large (in the 40 to 50 range) and competition grows over increasingly stretched resources, some individuals (males, females and juveniles) split from the main group to form a new, smaller group, known as 'fissioning', and move on to a different home range. Usually, it is the lowest-ranking individuals that will split from the main group. Females first breed at around five years of age. The gestation period is six months with a single offspring being produced at each pregnancy. Most infants being born in January and February. Young macaques are nursed for a year and may continue to do so longer if the female does not give birth again the following year. Males of the group may also be involved in

alloparental Alloparenting (also referred to as alloparental care) is a term used to classify any form of parental care provided by an individual towards young that aren't its own direct offspring. These are often referred to as "non-descendant" young, even th ...

care. This diurnal species spends most of its time on the ground, where it forages for leaves, fruit, grass and, to a lesser extent, flowers, seeds, roots and insects. When available, bamboo shoots, fruits and leaves are particularly favoured.

Conservation

This species is classified as

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify f ...

by the IUCN and is listed on Appendix II of the CITES list. Its main threats are all human-related. Principally, they are sensitive to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, as they are tied closely to the forest. They are occasionally poisoned by herbicides and pesticides while eating and may catch diseases transmitted from humans. Illegal poaching may occur, with the flesh and the fur of the macaque being used.

References

External links

* ARKive �
images and movies of the Tibetan macaque ''(Macaca thibetana)''
{{Authority control Tibetan macaque Fauna of Tibet Mammals of China Primates of East Asia Tibetan macaque Taxa named by Alphonse Milne-Edwards