MACAQUE

(Macaca), any of about 12 species of gregarious, diurnal monkeys, belonging to the family Cercopithecidae, found primarily in Asia. Macaques are robust animals with arms and legs of about the same length. Their fur is generally a shade of brown or blackish and their muzzles, like those of baboons, are doglike but are rounded in profile and bear the nostrils on the upper surface. The tail varies among species and may be long, of moderate length, short, or absent. Size differs between the sexes and among the species; males range in head and body length from about 4170 centimetres (1628 inches) and in weight from about 3.58.3 kilograms (818 pounds) in crab-eating macaques to a maximum of about 18 kilograms in the Japanese macaques. Macaques live in troops of varying size. The males, which lead and maintain discipline, live within a more well-defined dominance order than do females. Macaques are somewhat more arboreal than baboons but are equally at home on the ground; they are also able to swim. They live in forests, plains, and among cliffs and rocky terrain. They are omnivorous and possess large cheek pouches in which they carry extra food. Breeding occurs all year round. The single young are born after about six months' gestation and become adult at four years. Macaques are considered highly intelligent but may be bad-tempered as adults. Celebes, or moor, macaques (M. maurus) are short-tailed lowland macaques sometimes placed in the genus Cynomacaca. Crab-eating macaques (M. fascicularis or M. irus) are long-tailed monkeys with whiskery brown faces; they fish for crabs and other crustaceans and were used extensively in studies leading to development of the polio vaccine. Lion-tailed macaques, or wanderoos (M. silenus, sometimes Silenus silenus), are black with gray ruffs and tufted tails; an endangered species, they are found only in a small area of South India. Pig-tailed macaques (M. nemestrina) carry their short, furry tails curved over the back. Inhabitants of lowland forests, they are trained by Malays to pick ripe coconuts. Stump-tailed macaques (M. speciosa) are strong, shaggy-haired, mountain dwellers with pink or red faces and very short tails; like the Japanese macaques they are sometimes placed in the genus Lyssodes. Japanese macaques (M. fuscata) are also large, muscular, and shaggy-haired; they have pink faces and short, furry tails. Monkeys of this species were important in myths and folktales and provided the models for the Buddhist saying and its representation: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Other well known species commonly called by names other than macaque are the bonnet monkey, rhesus monkey, and Barbary ape (qq.v.). The Celebes black ape (q.v.) is sometimes known as the Celebes crested macaque.