Macaca fascicularis

Macaca fascicularis
long-tailed macaque
By Christopher Bonadio

Geographic Range
Long tailed or crab eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) are found in southeast Asia from Burma to the Philippines and southward through Indochina, Malaysia, and Indonesia. They are found as far east as the Timor Islands.
Habitat
Long-tailed macaques are "ecologically diverse." Some of the habitats in which they have been found are primary forests, disturbed and secondary forests, and riverine and coastal forests of nipa palm and mangrove. Long-tailed macaques live most successfully in disturbed habitats and on the periphery of forests.
In Sumatra, they achieve their highest population densities in mixed mangrove swamps, secondary hill forests, and riverine forests. Some were also observed in freshwater swamps, scrub grassland, lowland primary forests, and rubber groves.
In Thailand, long-tailed macaques occur in evergreen forests, bamboo forests, and in deciduous forests.
In Malaysia, they are abundant in coastal lowland forests.
This species has been observed drinking much water and eating crabs, they often live near bodies of water. Of the various habitats occupied by long-tailed macaques, the swamp forests seem to have the highest density of them.
In recent years, habitat alteration has expanded the range of some populations of long-tailed macaques. In Malaysia, cleared land, such as plantation areas, has been colonized by this species. It has been observed that some disturbed habitats have higher troop and population sizes than some pristine forests.
This species has the highest degree of arboreality of all macaque species. One study of long-tailed macaque behavior reported that they never came to the ground except within 5 m of the edge of a river near their tree. The population densities of this diurnal species vary from 10 to 400 per squared kilometer.
Physical Description
The body fur of long-tailed macaques tends to be grey-brown to reddish brown. These colors are always paler ventrally. The face is brownish-grey with cheek whiskers. The eyes are directed forward for binocular vision. The nose is flat and the nostrils are narrow and close together (catarrhine condition). Long-tailed macaques have shovel-shaped incisors, conspicuous canines, and bilophodont molars. The tooth formula is I 2/2, C 1/1, PM 2/2, and M 3/3.
The body length, not including the tail, is 40 to 47 cm. The greyish- brown or reddish colored tail is 50 to 60 cm. Long-tailed macaques exhibit sexual dimorphism in size. The average weight for males is 4.8 to 7 kg and 3 to 4 kg for females, approximately 69% of average male weight.
Reproduction
In Sumatra, each social group of these monkeys contains an average of 5.7 males and 9.9 adult females. Although females outnumber males, indicating that males have more mates available to them than do females, both sexes may mate with multiple partners. However, the alpha male, or highest ranking male, of the group has the greatest access to mates of any males, and probably sires the most offspring.
Males reach sexual maturity at approximately 6 years of age, whereas females mature by about 4 years of age. Higher-ranking females become reproductively mature before lower-ranking females. The offspring of these higher-ranking females have a greater chance of survival than do the offspring of lower-ranking females. Both of these phenomena are related to the greater food availability and decreased amount of aggression experienced by the higher ranking females.
Female long-tailed macaques show a conspicuous cyclicity of sexual behavior during their menstrual cycle. As they approach ovulation, females experience a swelling of the skin in the perineal region. However, there has been no direct correlation between the frequency of copulation and the degree of swelling of genital tissues. This concealment of ovulation could exist in order to persuade consorting males to stay with females longer.
As a side effect of the prolonged estrus period and concealment of ovulation, it is difficult for humans to estimate the length of gestation. However, it seems likely that the gestation averages approximately 162 days. The average interbirth intervasl is approximately 390 days, indicating that females can produce young each year if high ranking, and every other year otherwise.
Young are nursed until they are approximately 420 days of age. The average interbirth interval is reported to be 390 days, which is less than the average time until weaning. Both the length of nursing and the interbirth interval may be affected by the rank of the mother.
It is known that the births in this species peak from May to July, corresponding with the rainy season.
Conservation Status
There are nine national parks, nine reserves, and two sanctuaries in which some long-tailed macaques reside. Regardless of the type of habitat, there must be at least 500 squared kilometers of habitat necessary to support a viable population of 5,000 long-tailed macaques. This is the minimum size for a reserve for this species.
Long-tailed macaques receive some protection in temple ruins in Thailand and protection and food in temples in Bali. In Malaysia, long-tailed macaques are legally protected, and they are fed and protected in urban forests and parks. In the Philippines, there is much interest in protecting this species. In Indonesia, the species is well-protected, but some of the reserves are being considered for oil drilling and harvesting. Some people in Bali, in fact, consider these primates to be sacred. This may increase the chances of their survival in these reserves. In Thailand, long-tailed macaques may be hunted, captured, or kept in captivity only under license. The export of this species is regulated by a quota system.
Although there are some sanctuaries for long-tailed macaques, hunting is still a problem. In Thailand and Borneo, they are hunted for food. This species is also killed because it is a pest to agriculture. The fact that these macaques destroy crops has prevented some governments from making serious conservation efforts. Long-tailed macaques are collected for medical research. They are one of the five most used primate species in medical research. Many of these macaques were exported to the United States and Great Britian. Habitat loss in these organisms is occurring due to extensive logging operations.
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Macaca_fascicularis.html
Nancy Shefferly (editor), Animal Diversity Web Staff., Christopher Bonadio (author), University of Michigan.
Phil Myers (editor), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan.