Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Primates

Suborder:Haplorrhini

Infraorder: Simiiformes

Superfamily: Cercopithecoidea
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily:Cercopithecinae
Genus: Macaca
Species: M. fascicularis

CITES Status: Appendix II

IUCN Red list: Least concern

Population Trend: Decreasing

Long-tailed macaque originates its scientific name Macaca fascicularis which is a typical macaque (monkey) species. It is a well-known macaque species where it was given name by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1821. Besides known to be long-tailed macaque, it is also commonly called cynomolgus monkey, kera macaque and macaque crabbier.

Long-tailed macaque has a relatively small body size where a male monkey can grow up to a head-body-length of 36 to 65 cm tall and a tail of 36 to 67 cm while the female monkey can grow up to the head-body-length of 31 to 53 cm tall and a tail of 32-55 cm. Male monkeys often have a heavier body mass where it can reach up to 9.5 kilograms, with an additional of 5 to 7 kilograms compare to the female monkeys.

The colour of the long-tailed macaque?s coat is variable with different shades of brown. Normally, the face skin is dark grey in colour and there is a prominent frill of grey hair around its face. Both male and female macaques have white coloration on the eyelids near the nose. The male macaque has mustache and cheek whiskers that frame their faces while the female macaque has obvious white beards together with cheek whiskers. The distinct characteristic to determine a male and female macaque is to distinguish the availability of white beards. All long-tailed macaques have cheek pouches where it is used to carry food in while it is still forages.

Most long-tailed macaques are mainly frugivorous or simply known to be fruit eaters. Even so, at certain times, the long-tailed macaques can be seasonally focused on other sources of food including insects, leaves, mushrooms, invertebrates and bird eggs. To most of them, they are excellent swimmers. At certain time, long-tailed macaques can forage in mangroves to catch crabs, frogs, shrimps and other invertebrates for food. The average group size for long-tailed macaques is typically in a big crowd of 30 individuals. It is certainly uncommon to see a long-tailed macaque living alone by itself. The long-tailed macaque species commonly spent their time in the forest canopy but occasionally comes down to the ground too.

Generally, a female long-tailed macaque will give birth to a single offspring after seven to eight months of pregnancy. A new born long-tailed macaque infant usually weighs about 150 to 470 grams. They have a multi-male and multi-female social system where the female macaque remain sin their natal group with the onset of maturity while the male macaque will disperse once it turned to be adolescence. The mating system for the long-tailed macaque is a promiscuous system. Even so, most of the mating is done by an alpha male macaque. Both male and female macaques are extremely aggressive during inter group encounters. The macaque infants have a natal coat and it is black in colour.

The long-tailed macaques are widely spread throughout the islands of Southeast Asia They are commonly found in Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and Java of Indonesia, Burma, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India and Thailand. It is also believed that the long-tailed macaques? species are introduced from Mauritius, Palau and Papua New Guinea in the 1990s.Most of the long-tailed macaque species are found in a variety of forest habitats throughout coastal, mangrove, swampy, riverine, primary and secondary forest from the sea level up to the elevation of 2000 meters. Ordinarily, long-tailed macaques choose to utilize secondary forest due to human settlement where they can have easy access to vast food supply in the new environment.

Believe it or not, my alma mater is covered by the unknown total number of long-tailed macaque over the years as my university was formerly reclaimed from a secondary forest. It is situated in the middle of Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur borderlines with a large Rimba Ilmu (botanical garden) within the campus.  At times, the present of the long-tailed macaque in the campus can be seriously annoying as it often disturbs the livelihood of residents (students) residing within the campus. Many of the macaques are not afraid of human and they can be very aggressive when they are hunting for food. In fact, there were many reported cases of macaques causing public nuisance including of attacking students in the campus.

 

The exact habitat and distribution of long-tailed macaque in the campus remained a huge mystery but due to some major threats including the competition over food and space, habitat loss due to the development around campus, migration of some macaques, increasing population pressure and weather change may indirectly disturb the population of the long-tailed macaque in the campus. Typically, most long-tailed macaques are very active towards dusk and habitually come out at late afternoon hours to search for food. Surprisingly enough, most of the macaques often come out in a big troop of macaques to hunt for food resources around the campus.

 

The adult males are basically the macaques that have secondary sexual traits and which have completely developed. The adult males often have muscular body, distinct cheek hair and fully erupted canine tooth while the adult females are the parous species that possess nipples which elongated by suckling. Likewise, the juveniles are the reproductively immature species regardless of its sex and infants are the blackish pelage and often being carried by the macaque mother.

The distribution of macaques around my university campus decreases distinctly throughout the years  due to the change in weather, competition over food and space and migration are some of the reasons to this problem.

It is important to maintain the distribution of long-tailed macaques around my university campus although it has been only categorized as ?Least Concern? in the IUCN Red List. Since University of Malaya is developing over the days, the development carried out should not disturbed the distribution of long-tailed macaques and provide a more environmental-friendly rubbish bins that able to prevent these macaques from collecting food from the uncovered rubbish bins as it will mess up the place.

 

Sources:

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Cawthon, L. K. A. (2006).Primate Factsheets: Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) Taxonomy, Morphology, & Ecology. Retrieved from http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/long-tailed_macaque

Global Invasive Species Database. (2007). Macaca fascicularis (mammal). Retrieved from http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=139

 

Harvery, R., Martin, R. & Clutton-Brock, T. (1987). Life Histories in Comparative Perspective. 181-196 in Primate Societies. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.

 

Kamarul, H. & Mostafa, F. (2010). Distribution and status of Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis aurea I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1830) in Bangladesh. JoTT Note 2 (12). 1342-1344. Jahangirnagar University: Bangladesh.

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Melnick, D. & Pearl, M. (1987). Cercopithecines in Multimale Groups: Genetic Diversity and Population Structure. 121-134 in Primate Societies. Chicago and London: University of Chicago.

 

Ong, P. & Richardson, M. (2008). Macaca fascicularis. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. Retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org

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Visalberghi, E. & Fragaszy, D.(1990). Food-washing behaviour in tufted capuchin monkeys, Cebusapella and crabeating macaques, Macaca fascicularis. Animal Behaviour. 40: 829-836.

 

Wolfheim, J. (1983). Primates of the World: Distribution, Abundance, Conservation. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press.

 

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. (n.d.). Crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis). Retrieved from http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/visit-the-zoo/primates-1254385523/monkeys-1254385523/macaca-fascicularis

 

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