{"id":236,"date":"2014-01-21T08:56:16","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T08:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tibetnature.lhasocialwork.com\/en\/?p=236"},"modified":"2014-02-21T09:03:33","modified_gmt":"2014-02-21T09:03:33","slug":"tibetan-macaque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/tibetan-macaque\/","title":{"rendered":"TIBETAN MACAQUE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Macaca thibetana<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Physical Description<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tibetan Macaque, also known as Pere David\u2019s Macaque or the Short-tailed or Stump-tailed Tibetan Macaque, is the largest species of\u00a0macaque in the world. The Tibetan Macaque has long, thick fur that is especially dense around the Macaque\u2019s ears and on the top of its head.<\/p>\n

\"TIBETAN<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: www.en.wikipedia.org<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This warm coat provides protection against Tibet\u2019s cold winters. Most Tibetan macaques are greyish brown, but a few are black. The fur of\u00a0young macaques tends to be darker than that of the adults, with a silver or whitish tinge. The Tibetan Macaque\u2019s whiskers and beard are lightcoloured.<\/p>\n

The Macaque\u2019s eyelids generally are also light-coloured, accentuating the Macaque\u2019s facial expressions. The Tibetan Macaque has large\u00a0cheek pouches and a hairless muzzle. Many female Tibetan macaques have red skin around their eyes.<\/p>\n

The Tibetan Macaque has a stocky build, with agile, robust limbs. Male Tibetan macaques have a body length of 61.3 to 71 centimetres (24\u00a0to 28 inches) and weigh 14.2 to 17.5 kilograms (31.3 to 38.6 pounds). Female Tibetan macaques are smaller than the males. Females have a\u00a0body length of 50.7 to 63 centimetres (20 to 24.8 inches) and weigh an average of 13 kilograms (29 pounds). The Tibetan Macaque\u2019s tail\u00a0length ranges from five to 7.5 centimeters (2 to 3 inches).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Habitat<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tibetan Macaque inhabits subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests and mixed deciduous temperate forests at 800 to 2,000 metres (2,600\u00a0to 6,600 feet) in elevation. The Macaque may also occur in rocky terrain at higher altitudes. The Tibetan Macaque is found in Tibet and China,\u00a0its population concentrated in Eastern Tibet and China\u2019s Sichuan province.<\/p>\n

Mountains popular with tourists in China where the Macaque can\u00a0be found include Emei Shan, in Sichuan Province, and Jiuhua Shan and Huang (\u201cYellow\u201d) Shan, in Anhui Province. The Tibetan Macaque\u2019s\u00a0habitat range overlaps with that of the Rhesus Macaque in some areas, but the Tibetan Macaque is generally found at higher altitudes than the\u00a0Rhesus Macaque. Many Tibetan macaques now live in close association with humans.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eating Habits<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tibetan Macaque is omnivorous. The bulk of the Macaque\u2019s diet consists of fruit, leaves, and grass. The Tibetan Macaque also eats flowers,\u00a0roots, mushrooms, insects, eggs, birds, snakes, and, when available, bamboo shoots and leaves. The Macaque will eat food provided by humans,\u00a0but, unlike the Rhesus Macaque, the Tibetan Macaque does not raid crop fields. The Tibetan Macaque stores extra food in its cheek pouches.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Behavior<\/b>\u00a0and Reproduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tibetan Macaque is active during the day, or diurnal. The Macaque spends most of its time on the ground, despite its agility in the trees.<\/p>\n

Tibetan Macaque lives in multi-male, multi-female groups that vary in size from 10 to 100 individuals. Groups are hierarchical. Higher-ranked\u00a0macaques receive more access to the available resources. Females tend to remain in the groups into which they were born for their entire lives.<\/p>\n

Males, on the other hand, often switch groups once or more after they reach adulthood, at around eight years of age. Males are responsible for\u00a0leading the groups, maintaining discipline, and protecting the females and young. The highest-ranked males tend to be around seven to nine\u00a0years of age; rank decreases with age thereafter. Males do not begin competing for the highest positions in a group until they temporarily leave\u00a0their mother\u2019s group, for a period ranging from about a week to a month, and return. The lowest-ranked males in a large (40+) group of\u00a0macaques sometimes split away from the original group, forming a new group in a different area.<\/p>\n

Tibetan Macaques communicate with each other using a wide range of vocalizations, as well as gestures and facial expressions, all of which seem\u00a0to carry specific meanings. Though the Tibetan Macaque is considered highly intelligent, once the Macaque reaches maturity, it can be quite\u00a0bad-tempered and aggressive, both towards members of its own species and those of others. The fights that often break out among male\u00a0macaques may result in serious injuries or even death. The Tibetan Macaque tends to be the dominant species whenever it is found in association\u00a0with other monkeys.<\/p>\n

Female Tibetan Macaques begin mating at around five years of age. Mating occurs year-round, but there tends to be a peak season, which may\u00a0correlate to food-availability. The highest-ranked males have the highest chance of securing partners to mate with, and, thus, the most offspring.<\/p>\n

The highest-ranked females mate the most often and give birth earliest in the season. The Tibetan Macaque has a gestation period of 165 days.<\/p>\n

Each macaque mother gives birth to a single offspring. Most births occur in January and February. Newborn macaques typically weigh about\u00a0400 grams (14 ounces).<\/p>\n

Tibetan macaques are highly dependent on their mothers for the first four years of their lives. Macaques that survive past their first four years\u00a0tend to live to an age between 25 and 30 years. The Tibetan Macaque has few natural predators. When potential danger is spotted, the Tibetan\u00a0Macaque has been observed to alert the other members of its group with an alarm call and to flee into the trees. Male macaques are very strong\u00a0and will fight to defend themselves, their relatives, and their friends when necessary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Present Status<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Tibetan Macaque is categorized as Lower Risk: Conservation Dependent in the 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and is listed under\u00a0Appendix II of CITES. The Tibetan Macaque is under second class protection in China.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Threats to Survival<\/strong><\/p>\n

The main threat to the Tibetan Macaque is believed to be the loss and degradation of its habitat. Other threats include exposure to human\u00a0diseases, herbicide and pesticide poisoning, and poaching.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eudey, A. & Members of the Primate Specialist Group, 2000: Macaca thibetana, In: IUCN, 2003: 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened<\/p>\n

Species, http:\/\/www.redlist.org, Aug 2004.<\/p>\n

Georgia State University Viral Immunology Center, Photos of Macaque Monkeys\/ tibetan1.jpg, http:\/\/www.gsu.edu\/~wwwvir\/VirusInfo\/<\/p>\n

pages\/tibetan1_jpg.htm, Aug 2004.<\/p>\n

Huangshan Monkey Management Center, Basic Information about Tibetan Macaques, http:\/\/wings.buffalo.edu\/anthropology\/Faculty\/<\/p>\n

berman\/BasicE.htm, Aug 2004.<\/p>\n

By: Environment and Development Desk, DIIR, CTA.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Macaca thibetana Physical Description The Tibetan Macaque, also known as Pere David\u2019s Macaque or the Short-tailed or Stump-tailed Tibetan Macaque, is the largest species of\u00a0macaque in the world. The Tibetan Macaque has long, thick fur…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-primates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tibetnature.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}