MACAQUES
MACAQUES
The macaque genus, Macaca, includes twenty-four species and at least nineteen subspecies
Macaca munzala
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Arunachal macaques were first described in 2005, after primatologists discovered a previously undescribed population of macaques during an expedition in eastern India. Arunachal macaques are native to India, and are known to live only in Arunachal Pradesh, a state far to the northeast of the country. Nestled in the eastern…
Macaca assamensis
CONSERVATION STATUS: NEAR THREATEENED
The forests of southeast Asia are home to the Assam macaque (or Assamese macaque). Their homes span over nine countries from Vietnam to Nepal. In Tibet, they are also known as Himalayan macaques or hill monkeys. These Old World monkeys live in all types of dense primary forests, from the dry to the tropical…
Macaca radiata
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
Bonnet Macaque monkeys, also known as “zatis,” are native to the southern region of India, particularly found across the peninsular states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. These areas, surrounded by the Indian Ocean on three sides, span from the southern tip…
Macaca ochreata
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The booted macaque lives in the tropical rainforests of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The species’ range extends from the lakes region in the north—where it overlaps with that of the Tonkean macaque (Macaca tonkeana)—to the southern edges of the island’s southeastern peninsula. Further south, on the smaller islands of Muna…
Macaca nigra
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
Crested black macaques, also known as Celebes crested macaques, are endemic to Indonesia. They are restricted to just a handful of islands in the archipelago: Sulawesi, Manadotua, and Talise. Historically, crested black macaques were also found on Lembeh Island, but they have since been extirpated—or made locally…
Macaca cyclopis
CONSERVATION STATUS: LEAST CONCERN
Formosan rock macaques, also known as Taiwan or Taiwanese macaques, are endemic to the island of Taiwan in eastern Asia. The first descriptions of this species from the 19th century reported a wider distribution than today. Once upon a time, these macaques were found along the island’s coasts, but a surge in human….
Macaca nigrescens
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The Gorontalo macaque, also known as Dumoga-bone or Temminck’s macaque, is one of seven macaque species endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. They specifically inhabit the middle portion of the island’s northern peninsula, between the Bolango River in the west and the Onggak Dumoga River in the east. Their…
Macaca hecki
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The Heck’s macaque is endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. This volcanically active island, which looks something like a lopsided Komodo dragon from above, consists of four distinct peninsulas fanning out from a mountainous center. This unique combination of features that tends to isolate populations partially accounts for the island being one of the most biologically diverse places…
Macaca fuscata
CONSERVATION STATUS: LEAST CONCERN
Japanese macaques, also called Japanese snow macaques or simply snow monkeys, are found on three of the four main Japanese islands—Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—and live further north than any other macaque species. They live in a variety of habitats throughout these islands including subalpine, subtropical, deciduous…
Macaca silenus
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Primarily arboreal, the beautiful lion-tailed macaque, also known as the wanderoo, thrives in the upper canopy of tropical evergreen rainforests and monsoon forests, at a wide range of elevations, from 330 to 6,000 ft (100–1,850 m). They are endemic to the Western Ghats, a massive north-south running mountain range in…
Macaca fascicularis
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Common long-tailed macaques, also called crab-eating macaques and cynomolgus monkeys, are widely distributed across South Asia, including in Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, India (Nicobar Island), large areas of Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and…
Macaca maura
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
The moor macaque is one of seven species of macaque found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. They are only found on the southwestern peninsula of the island at elevations below 6,600 feet (2,000 m), and overlap in some places with the Tonkean macaque. They inhabit rainforests and deciduous forests in the northern…
Macaca brunnescens
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The Muna-Buton macaque, also referred to as the Muna-butung macaque or the Buton macaque, is found in the Indonesian islands of Buton and Muna. Located southeast of the Sulawesi peninsula, these islands are made of sandy beaches, rolling limestone cliffs, and dense forests—a truly breathtaking tropical paradise to…
Macaca leonina
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
Until recently, the northern pig-tailed macaque was considered a sub-species of Macaca nemestrina (now commonly called the southern pig-tailed macaque), but is now recognized as a separate species. These northern pig-tailed macaques are found over a wide area of southeastern Asia including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar…
Macaca pagensis
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
The Pagai Island macaque is an arboreal monkey that lives in Indonesia. They live in primary and secondary forests in tropical rainforest environments. They live high in the canopy, foraging around 79 to 118 feet (24 to 36m) in the trees. They have been found to sleep as high as 148 feet (45m) in the canopy! As the name may suggest…
Macaca mulatta
CONSERVATION STATUS: LEAST CONCERN
Rhesus macaques, also referred to as rhesus monkeys, are Old World monkeys from Asia that range in geographic distribution from Afghanistan to the Pacific coast of China, including India, Bhutan, Laos, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, and Pakistan. They boast the largest native range of any other nonhuman…
Macaca siberu
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
The Siberut macaque is endemic to the island of Siberut, located about 100 miles (160 km) off the western coast of Sumatra. Siberut is the largest of the four islands in the Mentawaian archipelago and part of the biodiversity hotspot known as Sundaland, which is comprised of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and the western…
Macaca nemestrina
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Southern pig-tailed macaques, also known as Sunda or Sundaland pig-tailed macaques, are native to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, and have also been introduced to areas of Singapore and the Natuna Islands. They are well at home in the dense tropical rainforests of southeast Asia, usually occupying…
Macaca arctoides
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The stump-tailed macaque, also called the bear macaque, is an Old World monkey native to Cambodia, southwest China, northeast India, Laos, Myanmar, northwest Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In the past, this monkey species was also found in eastern Bangladesh, but it is now believed to be extinct in the…
Macaca thibetana
CONSERVATION STATUS: NEAR THREATENED
The Tibetan macaque—also called the Chinese stump-tailed macaque, Pére David’s macaque, or Milne-Edwards’ macaque—is a large, Old World monkey found in eastern Tibet and certain regions of China, particularly the Sichuan province. They have also reportedly been found in India. They prefer subtropical, deciduous, and…
Macaca tonkeana
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
Tonkean macaques, also called Tonkean black macaques, are native to the central portion of island of Sulawesi and nearby Togian Islands in Indonesia. They are found in lowland and hill forests at moderate elevations below 5,000 ft (1500 m). The population density is estimated to be roughly three to five individuals per 0.6…
Macaca sinica
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Toque macaques are found only in Sri Lanka, an island country of South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea and considered one of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots. Locally, these Old World monkeys are referred to as rilewa or rilawa…
Macaca leucogenys
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
A birdwatching group from northeast India, composed of wildlife photographers and biologists, affirmed the discovery of the white-cheeked macaque while visiting Mêdog county in southeastern Tibet in March 2015. It was in the Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh (a region claimed by India, China, and Taiwan with…