Macaque

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Macaques[1]
File:Bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata) Photograph By Shantanu Kuveskar.jpg
Bonnet macaque
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Primates
Family:
Cercopithecidae
Subfamily:
Cercopithecinae
Tribe:
Papionini
Genus:
Macaca
Type species
Simia inuus
Species

See text

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The macaques (/məˈkɑːk/ or /məˈkæk/[2]) constitute a genus (Macaca) of Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques are widespread over Earth.

Description

Aside from humans (genus Homo), the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from Japan to Indian subcontinent and, in the case of the barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus), to North Africa and Southern Europe. Twenty-three macaque species are currently recognized, including some of the monkeys best known to non-zoologists, such as the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), and the barbary macaque, a colony of which lives on the Rock of Gibraltar. Although several species lack tails and their common names therefore refer to them as apes, these are true monkeys, with no greater relationship to the true apes than any other Old World monkeys.

In some species, skin folds join the second through fifth toes, almost reaching the first metatarsal joint.[3]

Social behavior

File:Macaque monkey's premotor areas.jpg
The premotor cortex of macaques is widely studied.[4]

Macaques have a very intricate social structure and hierarchy. If a macaque of a lower level in the social chain has eaten berries and none are left for a higher-level macaque, then the one higher in status can, within this social organization, remove the berries from the other monkey's mouth.[5]

Relation with humans

Several species of macaques are used extensively in animal testing, particularly in the neuroscience of visual perception and the visual system.

Nearly all (73–100%) pet and captive Rhesus macaques are carriers of the herpes B virus. This virus is harmless to macaques, but infections of humans, while rare, are potentially fatal, a risk that makes macaques unsuitable as pets.[6]

A 2005 University of Toronto study showed urban performing macaques also carried simian foamy virus, suggesting they could be involved in the species-to-species jump of similar retroviruses to humans.[7]

Vietnamese engage in the hunting and killing of the Macaque.[8][9]

Species

Genus Macaca

Prehistoric (fossil) species:

Gallery

  • Stump-tailed macaque (M. arctoides)

  • Japanese macaque (M. fuscata)

  • Macaca nemestrina.jpg

    Pig-tailed macaque (M. nemestrina)

  • Crested Black Macaque (Macaca nigra).jpg

    Sulawesi's black macaque (M. nigra)

  • Self-portrait photograph of a crested black macaque (the "monkey selfie")

  • Macaca fuscata.jpg

    Japanese macaque (M. fuscata)

  • Macaques in Sagano.jpg

    Japanese macaques (M. fuscata) in Sagano

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ macaque pronunciation by Oxford Dictionaries
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ "The Life of Mammals" Hosted by David Attenborough, 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC Video
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ University of Toronto - News@UofT - Performing monkeys in Asia carry viruses that could jump species to humans (Dec 8/05)
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DddqzbLglyU
  9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmc8S0o7HsY
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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