Lion-tailed Macaque

About this species

Size

Head and body 42–61cm; tail about 25cm

Weight

2–10kg

Diet

Mainly native fruits, also seeds, flowers, insects, snails and small vertebrates

Habitat

Upper canopy of tropical moist evergreen and monsoon forest

Range

Endemic to the Western Ghats of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu

Gestation

About six months

The lion-tailed macaque is one of the most distinctive monkeys in India: glossy black all over, with a thick silver-grey mane framing a bare black face. Babies have pinkish faces and grow the mane from about two months old. The name comes from the tail rather than the mane: it is long, thin and mostly naked, ending in a black tuft like a lion's. It is one of the smaller macaques. Like other macaques it stores food in deep cheek pouches (Wikipedia, general species account).

This is a rainforest monkey that spends its day in the upper canopy, about half of it foraging and the rest resting or moving between feeding trees. It eats mainly native fruits, and carries seeds long distances, so it matters for the forest's regeneration. Troops usually hold 10 to 20 animals, with one to three males and many females, and they defend their area with loud calls and bared teeth. It shies away from people more than other macaques do, but habitat loss has pushed some troops into contact and conflict with people (Wikipedia, general species account).

The species survives only in fragmented pockets of the Western Ghats, with an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 left in the wild, in places such as Kudremukh and Sharavathi in Karnataka, Anamalai and Megamalai in Tamil Nadu, and Parambikulam and Silent Valley in Kerala (Roundglass Sustain 2023). The Anamalai hills hold around 1,108. On the Valparai plateau, about nine troops live in rainforest fragments among tea and coffee estates, where canopy bridges over roads and forest restoration by the Nature Conservation Foundation help them move safely.

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)