Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) are found only in India in the West­ern Ghats moun­tains. (BBC, 2005; Nowak, 1999)

• Biogeographic Regions
• oriental
  • native

Habi­tat

Macaca silenus lives in ever­green and semi-ever­green rain­forests and mon­soon forests. They typ­i­cally are as­so­ci­ated with broadleaf trees, and can be found at el­e­va­tions as great as 1,500 m. (BBC, 2005; Nowak, 1999)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• rainforest
• mountains

• Range elevation

  1,500 (high) m

  ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Lion-tailed macaques are 40 to 61 cm in length, with the tail adding an ad­di­tional 24 to 38 cm. Males typ­i­cally weigh be­tween 5 and 10 kg, but the smaller fe­males weigh only 3 to 6 kg.

The body is cov­ered with black fur. The tail is long, thin, and naked, with a tuft of black puffy hair at the tip. Both males and fe­males have a gray­ish lion-like mane of fur that sur­rounds the face. The face it­self is bare and black.

Macaca silenus has two in­cisors, one ca­nine, three pre­mo­lars, and two mo­lars in each quad­rant of the mouth (Lawlor, 1979). Lion-tailed macaques have cheek pouches that open be­side the lower teeth and ex­tend down the side of the neck.

Off­spring are born with soft, black pelage that is re­placed with adult pelage after two months of age (Bur­ton, 1995). (BBC, 2005; Bur­ton, 1995; Lawlor, 1979)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  3 to 10 kg

  6.61 to 22.03 lb

• Range length

  40 to 61 cm

  15.75 to 24.02 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

This species is polyg­y­nous. Groups of M. silenus typ­i­cally con­tain one male and sev­eral fe­males and ju­ve­niles. (Nowak, 1999)

• Mating System
• polygynous

In lion-tailed macaques, fe­males be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture at 5 years of age, and males ma­ture at 8 (Nowak, 1999). Macaca silenus has no spe­cific breed­ing sea­son. When a fe­male is in es­trus, swelling oc­curs in the area under her tail (per­ineal oestrus swelling) and she emits a courtship call to let males know she is ready to cop­u­late (Nowak, 1999). Courtship gen­er­ally con­sists of the male ex­am­in­ing the fe­male's gen­i­tals and then iso­la­tion of the cou­ple from the troop in order to cop­u­late with­out in­ter­rup­tion. Once they have cop­u­lated, the two do not stay to­gether.

After ges­ta­tion pe­riod of ap­prox­i­mately 6 months, fe­males typ­i­cally give birth to one off­spring (Bur­ton, 1995). Al­though breed­ing oc­curs through­out the year, most births co­in­cide with the peak of the wet sea­son when re­sources are abun­dant. New­born macaques weigh be­tweem 400 and 500 g (Nowak, 1999). Fe­males tend to carry the off­spring on their ab­domens. Males and fe­males reach ma­tu­rity at dif­fer­ent ages, with males ma­tur­ing later, at 8 years of age. Fe­males can pro­duce their first off­spring around the age of 5 years (Nowak, 1999).

In most macaques, fe­males can re­pro­duce once per year if con­di­tions are good. Young are weaned be­fore they reach one year of age. (Bur­ton, 1995; Nowak, 1999)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Females can probably reproduce about once per year if conditions are favorable.

• Breeding season

  Macaca silenus has no specific breeding season.

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average number of offspring

  1

  AnAge

• Average gestation period

  180 days

• Average gestation period

  176 days

  AnAge

• Average time to independence

  4 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  5 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  1429 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  8 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  2511 days

  AnAge

Fe­males nurse and care for their young for ex­tended pe­ri­ods while the young learn and grow. When off­spring reach ado­les­cence, fe­males gen­er­ally stay in the so­cial group of their birth, but males leave, and live in no­madic all-male groups until they are able to de­fend a harem of their own. Males may es­tab­lish a new fam­ily group or steal one from an old or in­jured male of an­other group. (Lawlor, 1979; Nowak, 1999)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents
• extended period of juvenile learning
• inherits maternal/paternal territory

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Macaca silenus has a max­i­mum lifes­pan of 38 years in cap­tiv­ity, al­though it is more typ­i­cal for them to reach about 30 years of age. In the wild, the ex­pected max­i­mum lifes­pan is about 20 years. (BBC, 2005; Nowak, 1999; BBC, 2005; Nowak, 1999)

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  20 years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  38 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  30 years

• Average lifespan
  Sex: female
  Status: captivity

  40.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Sex: male
  Status: captivity

  38.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  30.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Lion-tailed macaques are ar­bo­real and di­ur­nal. They travel in a fam­ily group con­sist­ing of 10 to 20 mem­bers, but there can be as many as 34 mem­bers (Nowak, 1999). Some groups may have as many as 3 adult males, but there is usu­ally only one dom­i­nant male who is re­spon­si­ble for breed­ing (Nowak, 1999). Lion-tailed macaques are the only macaques in which males use calls to ad­ver­tise their ter­ri­to­r­ial bound­aries (Nowak, 1999). Male macaques are ter­ri­to­r­ial and gen­er­ally give off a loud call to let en­ter­ing troops know they are in the area. Two troups en­counter one an­other, one usu­ally moves away with­out any overt ag­gres­sion. (Bur­ton, 1995; Nowak, 1999)

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Macaques have ex­ten­sive pat­terns of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, typ­i­cal of di­ur­nal pri­mates. They rely heav­ily on vocal com­mu­ni­ca­tion. "Lion-tailed macaques have 17 dif­fer­ent vocal pat­terns and many types of body move­ments used to ex­press com­mu­ni­ca­tion" (Bur­ton, 1995). In ad­di­tion, vi­sual com­mu­ni­ca­tion (through body pos­tures and fa­cial ex­pres­sion), and tac­tile com­mu­ni­ca­tion (in the form of groom­ing, play, mount­ing, and ag­gres­sion) occur in macaques. It is likely that some chem­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion oc­curs, es­pe­cially as per­tains to ad­ver­tize­ment of oestrus (Nowak, 1999). (Bur­ton, 1995; Nowak, 1999)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Lion-tailed macaques are om­niv­o­rous but their diet con­sists mainly of fruit. They also eat a wide va­ri­ety of veg­e­ta­tion such as leaves, stems, flow­ers, buds, and fungi. They oc­ca­sion­ally eat meat from in­sects, lizards, tree frogs, and small mam­mals. These macaques ob­tain some of their water by lick­ing dew from leaves. Lion-tailed macaques pre­fer to for­age quickly for fear of preda­tors. Their cheeck pouches en­able them to quickly gather large amounts of food in times of dan­ger. "When fully ex­tended, their cheek pouches can store an equi­li­vant to their stom­ach's ca­pac­ity" (Bur­ton, 1995). Macaca silenus feed from dawn till dusk, gen­er­ally, on foods that are clos­est to their sleep­ing ground (Nowak, 1999). (Bur­ton, 1995; Nowak, 1999)

• Primary Diet
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• wood, bark, or stems
• fruit
• flowers

• Other Foods
• fungus

Pre­da­tion

It is likely that these an­i­mals fall prey to snakes, rap­tors, and larger car­ni­vores.

Ecosys­tem Roles

Be­cause of their fru­givory and their abil­ity to carry fruits in their large cheek pouches, it is likely that these mon­keys play some role in seed dis­per­sal. To the ex­tent that they prey upon other an­i­mals, they may have some im­pact on prey pop­u­la­tions. As prey an­i­mals them­selves, lion-tailed macaques may have a pos­i­tive im­pact on pop­u­la­tions of their preda­tors.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Macaca silenus is hunted for its skin and meat. These an­i­mals are also used in the pet trade and for med­ical re­search (Bur­ton, 1995). (Bur­ton, 1995)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• food
• body parts are source of valuable material
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Lion-tailed macaques may raid agri­cul­tural fields and or­chards and are some­times shot as pests (Bur­ton, 1995). (Bur­ton, 1995)

• Negative Impacts
• crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Lion-tailed macaques are af­fected by habi­tat loss due to the har­vest­ing of fire­wood, tim­ber, and other for­est prod­ucts for human use (Bur­ton, 1995). They are also sub­ject to in­breed­ing, re­sult­ing from hav­ing low num­bers in the wild and dif­fer­ent troops being sep­a­rated in small for­est frag­ments.

In the 1980s, ef­forts were made to in­crease the pop­u­la­tion. Macaca silenus was put on the Species Sur­vival Plan. Be­cause lion-tailed macaques breed well in cap­tiv­ity, there are now 500 lion-tailed macaques in zoos world­wide and the pop­u­la­tion can be in­creased dra­mat­i­cally (Bur­ton, 1995). (Bur­ton, 1995; Bur­ton, 1995)

• IUCN Red List

  Endangered
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Endangered
  More information

• US Federal List

  Endangered No special status

• CITES

  Appendix I

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Nicole Strawder (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Cyn­thia Sims Parr (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

BBC, 2005. "Lion-tailed Macaque, wan­deroo" (On-line). Ac­cessed May 31, 2005 at http://​www.​bbc.​co.​uk/​nature/​wildfacts/​factfiles/​220.​shtml.

Bur­ton, F. 1995. The Mul­ti­me­dia Guide to the Non-Hu­man Pri­mates. On­tario: Pren­tice Hall Canada.

Lawlor, T. 1979. En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Mam­mals. New York: Mc­Graw-Pub­lish­ing Com­pany.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mam­mals of the World, Sixth Edi­tion. Boston and Lon­don: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.