Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

For­mosan rock macaques (Macaca cy­clopis) are found in the moun­tain­ous ter­rain of north­east­ern and south­west­ern Tai­wan. They may once have been as­so­ci­ated with the sea coast but have now been largely re­stricted to in­land hills be­cause of human ac­tiv­ity (Kuntz and Myers, 1969). (Kunts and Myers, 1969)

• Biogeographic Regions
• oriental
  • native

Habi­tat

For­mosan rock macaques in­habit pri­mar­ily mixed conif­er­ous-hard­wood tem­per­ate for­est, as well as bam­boo and grass­land at el­e­va­tions be­tween 100 and 3600 m . They are also found in coastal areas. (Grz­imek, 1988) (Grz­imek, 1988)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest

• Range elevation

  100 to 3600 m

  328.08 to 11811.02 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

For­mosan rock macaques are quadrupedal (Flea­gle, 1988). They use cheek pouches to carry food in while for­ag­ing. The pelage is dark gray to brown in color. Tail length varies from 26 to 46 cm and body lengh ranges from 36 to 45 cm. They typ­i­cally weigh 5 to 12 kg, though some adult males can be over 18 kg. The hairs are soft, a dark gray color in win­ter and an olive drab in sum­mer; ab­dom­i­nal skin is slightly blue (Grz­imek, 1988). (Flea­gle, 1988; Grz­imek, 1988)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range mass

  5 to 18 kg

  11.01 to 39.65 lb

• Range length

  36 to 45 cm

  14.17 to 17.72 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

Most macaques are polyg­y­nous. Given the sex­ual di­mor­phism in size seen in M. cy­clopis, it is rea­son­able to as­sume that this species is, also. (Grz­imek, 1988)

• Mating System
• polygynous

For­mosan rock macaques give birth to a sin­gle off­spring per preg­nancy. Dur­ing es­trus the per­ineum of the fe­male swells at the base of the tail and along the thighs.

Ges­ta­tion pe­riod is about 165 days. Young weigh an av­er­age of 400 g at birth. The mat­ing sea­son oc­curs from No­vem­ber through Jan­u­ary, with births oc­cur­ing from April through June. The mat­ing sea­son co­in­cides with the peak of fruit avail­abil­ity. Fe­males 5 to 9 years old usu­ally give birth every other year, older fe­males give birth every year (Rowe, 1996).

In most macaques, nurs­ing lasts for about one year. Young are typ­i­cally in­de­pen­dent after about two years, al­though may re­tain life-long as­so­ci­a­tions with their mother. (Flea­gle, 1988; Grz­imek, 1988; Nowak, 1991; Rowe, 1996)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Females 5 to 9 years old usually give birth every other year, older females give birth every year.

• Breeding season

  The mating season occurs from November through January.

• Average number of offspring

  1

• Average gestation period

  165 days

• Average weaning age

  12 months

Most parental care is pro­vided by the mother. She grooms, nurses, pro­tects her in­fant until it be­comes in­de­pen­dent. In most macaques, the pe­riod of nurs­ing is about a year. Young are typ­i­cally in­de­pen­dent by two years of age. How­ever, fe­males may have re­la­tion­ships with their fe­male kin for the re­main­der of their lives. Fe­males re­main in their natal group with the onset of ma­tu­rity, but males dis­perse shortly be­fore ado­les­cence. There is a hi­er­ar­chi­cal dom­i­nance sys­tem among group mem­bers based upon the ma­tri­line.

• Parental Investment
• 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
• maternal position in the dominance hierarchy affects status of young

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Most species in the genus Macaca live to be about 30 years old in cap­tiv­ity. Lifes­pans in the wild are prob­a­bly shorter. It is rea­son­able to as­sume that M. cy­clopis is like other mem­bers of the genus in this re­spect. (Nowak, 1991)

Be­hav­ior

For­mosan rock macaques are di­ur­nal pri­mates with a mul­ti­male-mul­ti­fe­male so­cial sys­tem with group sizes av­er­ag­ing 45 in­di­vid­u­als. How­ever, be­cause of the re­cent de­cline in num­bers, group struc­ture re­sem­bles that of a uni­male sys­tem and group sizes range typ­i­cally be­tween 2 and 10 in­di­vid­u­als. Troops have 2 to 8 males, with a ratio of 1.25 males to 1.5 fe­males. Ter­ri­to­ries over­lap par­tially. Males em­i­grate and are soli­tary or form bach­e­lor troops. Small troops with only 1 male have been ob­served to have an in­flux of bach­e­lor males dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son.

This macaque species, with its rounded head and flat muz­zle, is in­ter­me­di­ate in size and ap­pear­ance be­tween rhe­sus mon­keys and Java mon­keys. Re­ports dat­ing from the pre­vi­ous cen­tury men­tion that this an­i­mal trav­eled with great agility over vir­tu­ally in­ac­ces­si­ble rocks on the sea­coast, and that it lived in part on crus­taceans and mol­lusks. Cur­rently this macaque species per­sists only in the cen­tral hill coun­try of Tai­wan.

For­mosan rock macaques are ground dwellers, com­fort­able in ter­rain with few trees or none. They are not shy and some­times visit the fields of Tai­wanese vil­lagers, where they dig sweet pota­toes and peanuts. They are hunted for this rea­son, and as a source of meat. (Grz­imek, 1988) (Grz­imek, 1988)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• social
• dominance hierarchies

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

VOCAL COM­MU­NI­CA­TION:

For­mosan rock macaques emit 'scream calls' when ap­proached by a non-group mem­bers. Group mem­bers an­swer this call with a sound that sounds like "kyaw-kyaw".

VI­SUAL COM­MU­NI­CA­TION:

A fear gri­mace is when the lips are re­tracted so that the teeth are shown and clenched (Estes, 1991). This dis­play func­tions as an ap­pease­ment sig­nal to re­duce ag­gres­sion in ag­gres­sive en­coun­ters (Estes, 1991).

Star­ing with an open mouth but with the teeth cov­ered in­di­cates ag­gres­sion (Estes, 1991).

As in other macaques, it is likely that tac­tile com­mu­ni­ca­tion (groom­ing, play­ing, fight­ing, mat­ing) is also im­por­tant. There may be some chem­i­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the form a pheromones. (Estes, 1991; Grz­imek, 1988)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

For­mosan rock macaques con­sume a wide va­ri­ety of foods, in­clud­ing fruits, leaves, berries, seeds, in­sects, an­i­mal prey, buds, young shoots, and small ver­te­brates. These macaques re­port­edly raid crops (Rowe, 1996).

• Primary Diet
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• seeds, grains, and nuts
• fruit

Pre­da­tion

Hu­mans are re­ported to hunt these an­i­mals for their meat. They may also fall vic­tim to rap­tors. How­ever, Clouded leop­ards are the pri­mary preda­tors of these an­i­mals (Estes, 1991; Rowe, 1996)

• Known Predators

  • Clouded leopards
  • Humans

Ecosys­tem Roles

These an­i­mals may be im­por­tant in local food webs, and in help­ing to dis­perse seeds.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Macaques are pop­u­lar zoo an­i­mals be­cause of their ac­tive lifestyle and adapt­abil­ity. They are also use­ful in bi­o­log­i­cal, med­i­c­i­nal, and psy­cho­log­i­cal re­search be­cause of their sim­i­lar­ity to hu­mans in phys­i­ol­ogy and dis­ease sus­cep­ti­bil­ity. These an­i­mals may also be hunted for food. (Nowak, 1991)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Par­a­sites that in­fect M. cy­clopis may be trans­mit­ted to hu­mans, this is par­tic­u­larly a prob­lem in re­cent years as tourism in­creases in the re­gions they in­habit and con­tact with hu­mans be­comes more fre­quent. They also are known to raid crops.

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • carries human disease
• crop pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Sit­u­ated in a sub­trop­i­cal zone, Tai­wan pos­sesses a warm and moist cli­mate and a large va­ri­ety of plants and wild life. Of the world's ap­prox­i­mately 4,500 species of mam­mals, Tai­wan has 61. In order to pro­tect these pre­cious nat­ural re­sources in the face of grow­ing eco­nomic de­vel­op­ment the Tai­wanese gov­ern­ment has in re­cent years ac­tively pro­moted con­cepts of, and mea­sures for, en­vi­ron­men­tal con­ser­va­tion which have be­come widely ac­cepted by the gen­eral pub­lic. Tai­wan ac­tively par­tic­i­pates in im­por­tant in­ter­na­tional treaties and or­ga­ni­za­tions such as the Con­ven­tion on In­ter­na­tional Trade in En­dan­gered Species (CITES) and the In­ter­na­tional Union for the Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture (IUCN).

Macaca cy­clopis once oc­cured through­out Tai­wan, but is now re­stricted to re­mote high­lands by human en­croach­ment. Macaques are killed for food, med­i­c­i­nal prepa­ra­tions, and taken as pets and for re­search pur­poses. The pri­mary threat to their pop­u­la­tions is habi­tat de­struc­tion.

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Crys­tal Chiu (au­thor), West Wind­sor-Plains­boro High School, Joan Ras­mussen (ed­i­tor), West Wind­sor-Plains­boro High School.

Ref­er­ences

"For­mosan rock-mon­key" (On-line). Ac­cessed (Date Un­known) at http://​www.​gio.​gov.​tw/​info/​ecology/​specific/​monk_​e.​html.

Bur­ton, F. 1995. "The Mul­ti­me­dia Guide to the Non-hu­man Pri­mates". Pren­tice-Hall Canada Inc..

Estes, R. 1991. "The Be­hav­ior Guide to African Mam­mals". Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­formia Press..

Flea­gle, J. 1988. "Pri­mate Adap­ta­tion and Evo­lu­tion". Aca­d­e­mic Press..

Grz­imek, B. 1988. Grz­imek's En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Mam­mals. Vol­ume 2. NY: Mc­Graw-Hill.

Kunts, R., B. Myers. 1969. A check-list of par­a­sites and com­men­sals re­ported for the Tai­wan macaque. Pri­mates, 10: 71-80.

Nowak, R. 1991. Walker's Mam­mals of the World. Bal­ti­more and Lon­don: The Johns Hop­kins Uni­ver­sity Press.

Rowe, N. 1996. The Pic­to­r­ial Guide to The Liv­ing Pri­mates. Pogo­nias Press.