Macaque

“ The so-called Common Macaque, or Macacus cynomolgus, represents the long-tailed section of the genus, and grows to be a powerful animal amongst the other small Monkeys, over a very wide extent of country. It lives in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Batchian, in the islands from Lombok to [Pg 118] Timor, and in the Philippines. It is a quiet and tolerably amiable Monkey when young, but with years, it becomes a wild, savage, and very brutal creature. Even in menageries it is often nasty in its habits, and savage. ”

“ Some live in the hottest plains, others in the mountains. The Common Macaque, found in the Malay Archipelago, is a strong, medium-sized monkey. The Formosan Macaque is a rock-living creature; those of Japan inhabit the pine-groves, and are fond of pelting any one who passes with stones and fir-cones. The Bonnet Macaque is an amusing little beast, very fond of hugging and nursing others in captivity. The Bandar or Rhesus Monkey, a common species, also belongs to this group. But the most interesting to Europeans is the Magot, or Barbary Ape. It is the last monkey left in Europe. ”

“ Of the genus Macacus there are several examples. There are no less than seven specimens of the Bonnet Macaque (Macacus pileatus) , a monkey that may be recognised by the manner in which the hair of the head is parted in the middle, after the fashion of the modern dandy. The general tint of the fur is pale brown, but that of the head is black—a peculiarity which has earned for the creature its popular name. These monkeys are funny little fellows, with a peculiar wistful, peering expression in their faces, which I do not remember to have noticed in any other species. ”

“ The common Macaque is a strong, well-built monkey, of a dark grey colour, with a short stubby tail. He has but few friends, and at times appears to regret having any at all. He is quite active, energetic, and aggressive. He endures captivity well, but as a rule never becomes quite tame or trustworthy. His speech is of a low type, but he has a very singular expression of the mouth, which seems to indicate friendship. In fact, there are several different species of the genus Macacus that use this peculiar movement of the lips. ”

“ Like most other monkeys, macaques go about in large troops, each headed by an old male. They feed on seeds, fruits, insects, lizards, &c.; and while some of the species are largely terrestrial, the Barbary ape is wholly so. Docile and easily tamed when young, old males of many of the species become exceedingly morose and savage in captivity. ”

“ Macaque Monkeys. From a photograph by
Gambier Bolton.
Like the lemurs and lories, with which they are not remotely related, the most elegant little monkeys are natives of the great tropical forest; but the rarest and most interesting of the tribe are so delicate that their brief lives are passed almost unnoticed at the Zoo, where most of them, as they arrive from time to time in the Gardens, are kept secluded in an inner chamber. Those from the woods of Guiana and Brazil are at once the most beautiful in form and the richest in colouring. ”

“ But as Nature always proceeds in a regular and gradual manner, never leaving any chasms, we meet with an intermediate species between the baboon and monkey, like that of the magot between the ape and the baboon. The animal which fills up this interval, greatly resembles the monkey, especially the macaque, but it has a broad muzzle, and short tail, like the baboon. ”

“ The other monkeys now cautiously approached the dead snake, but all were careful not to come too near, with the exception of one, a large macaque, who would make an occasional snatch at the paper, as though to see whether the dreaded animal were really dead. A pull on a string attached to the tail of the snake, causing it to stir, sent the inquisitive monkeys scampering away, but they would again return, ever keeping at a respectful distance. ”

“ Thus, the suitably named pig-tailed macaque of the Far East is trained, in Sumatra and Borneo, to climb the coconut palms and select and throw down ripe nuts—the most really useful thing to the credit of monkeys; the Japanese species is the one that is so much used in the decorative designs of that artistic people; and the best known of all is the com [Pg 379] mon Bengal or rhesus monkey, which is revered by some sects of Hindus, and is treated with tolerance or made a pet of, or an aid to jugglers, throughout India. Several other macaques are common pets and servants in the East. ”

“ THE WHITE-FACE
"Uncle Remus," the white-face, always goes through a series of facial contortions with the gravity of a rural judge. He will look into the glass, and then at me, as if to say "Where did you get that monkey?"
The little baby Macaque, who was born in Central Park, tries to engage the image in a [Pg 144] romp, reaches for it in the glass, clucks, jumps playfully to her perch, and looks back to see if the image follows; then she will return to the glass, and try again to induce the little ghost to join her in her play. ”

“ The Old World monkeys are, as a family, of higher grade, larger size, and greater historical interest than those of America. Fossil remains show that the tribe is an old one, and was once able to range all over Europe; now the few half-captive and altogether mischievous apes on the rock of Gibraltar represent all that remain of a species once numerous even in northern France, and so recently as the Pleistocene. This ape is a macaque (Macacus) , a genus that otherwise is purely Asiatic and contains some of the most celebrated of the monkeys. ”

“ The most familiar genus is undoubtedly Macacus. This includes all the common so-called Macaques, the Bonnet Monkey, the Pig-tailed Monkey, etc. In this genus we find that the males are larger than the females, and have stronger canine teeth. Ischial callosities are well developed. The genus is purely Asiatic, reaching as far east as Japan, with the exception of the Barbary Ape, M. inuus, also known as the Gibraltar Ape. There are altogether some seventeen species. ”

“ Female and Young Male.—Facial rugosities less marked outwardly, as well as on the skull, than in the adult male, and the purple colour of the grooves wanting. The nose is black, not scarlet.
A hybrid between a female of this species and a male Macaque (M. cynomologus) was born in the Zoological Gardens of London in October, 1878.
Distribution.—West Africa, from Senegambia to the Congo.
Habits.—These hideous and extraordinary animals live together in large companies, and are a terror to the natives. They are less ill-dispositioned when young, but when adult, they are very savage. ”

“ The canine teeth are not longer in proportion than those of men: the muzzle is very large; the orbits of the eyes are very prominent above; the face, ears, hands, and feet, are naked, and of a flesh colour. The hair on the body is of a dark olive, and of a reddish yellow on the belly: he sometimes walks erect, and at others upon all fours. [205] When erect he is about two feet, or two feet and a half high. The female is subject to the periodical emanation.
THE MACAQUE, AND THE EGRET.
OF all the guenons, or monkeys, with long tails, the macaque (fig. 202.) approaches nearest the baboon. ”

“ The Monkey, of all animals, seems to approach closest to man in figure, the Siamang Gibon of Asia, the Bald-headed Saki of South America, with its stub of a tail, being nearest. From these types we have great deviations as in the Wanderer of India, with its whiskered face, and the Black Macaque of the Island of Celebes, with its hairy topknot, and hairless stub of a tail, or the well-known Squirrel Monkey, with its long supple tail, and the Thumbless Spider Monkey, of South America. ”

“ The next group of Eastern monkeys are the Macaques, which are more like baboons, and often run upon the ground. They are more bold and vicious than the others. All have cheek pouches, and though some have long tails, in others the tail is short, or reduced to a mere stump. In some few this stump is so very short that there appears to be no tail, as in the magot of North Africa and Gibraltar, and in an allied species that inhabits Japan. ”

“ That at the Zoo is a female, a large, heavy, round-backed monkey, with olive-tinted fur, a dull, morose face, and a by no means pleasant temper. Like most large monkeys, it is a far heavier, stronger, and more active creature than it appears to be when sitting bunched up on the floor. The big monkeys, not only the baboons, but creatures like the large macaques and the Chinese and Japanese monkeys, have the power of leaping suddenly in almost any direction without any previous contraction of the limbs or body. ”

“ The scarlet-faced monkey lives in forests, which are inundated during great part of the year, and is never known to descend to the ground; the shortness of its tail is therefore no sign of terrestrial habits, as it is in the Macaques and Baboons of the Old World. ”

“ Skull rounded; muzzle wide in front, contracted at the base, concave beneath the orbits; orbital ridges large, and the frontal bone widely depressed behind them; pre-molars and molars small. The structure of this animal is essentially that of the ordinary Macaques, although it differs from them so much in external physiognomy. (Anderson) .
Body, limbs, and tail deep black; a ruff of long hairs round the head, darkish grey; chest greyish or white; tail tipped with greyish or white; face, hands, and feet black; callosities flesh-coloured. ”

“ Habits.—The Pig-tailed Macaque inhabits the thick jungles in the lower country, living in considerable companies, and feeding on fruits, seeds, and insects. "When young, these Monkeys are easily tamed," as Mr. ”

“ In another test I took a white paper ball in one hand and a pink one in the other, and held out my hands to the monkey, who selected the white one nearly every time, although I changed hands with the balls from time to time. These experiments were mostly confined to the Cebus monkeys, but a few of them were made with Macaques. They seem to be attracted generally by all brilliant colours, but when reduced to a choice between two, such seems to be their tastes. ”

“ This great family of true monkeys contains the Sacred Monkeys, or Langurs, of India, the Guerezas and Guenons of Africa, the Mangabeys, Macaques, and Baboons. Most of them have naked, hard patches of skin on the hindquarters, and the partition between the nostrils is narrow. Some have tails, some none, and they exhibit the most astonishing differences of size and shape. Perhaps the most grotesque and astonishing of them all is the Proboscis Monkey. It is allied to the langurs, and is a native of the island of Borneo, to which it is confined ”

“ Monkeys, is their pure white upper eyelids, the white streak being more distinct on the inner half of the eyelid than on the outer. These Monkeys want the laryngeal air-sacs seen in the Macaques; but they have large cheek-pouches and a simple stomach, as in the latter. Their tail is always long, quite equalling the length of the body. The hands have a web between each of the fingers, that between the thumb and index finger being very short; in their feet, the great-toe, which is widespread, has a short web uniting it with its neighbour ”

“ It would be difficult to find an animal more gaily decorated and yet so hideous. And as it grows to be almost as large as a man, it is not surprising that the negroes of the Guinea coast, where it is commonly found, should have a superstitious fear of so dangerous a creature.
CURIOUS MONKEYS OF THE MACAQUES FAMILY. The Monkeys belonging to the group known as Macaques, or Macacus, nearly all have tails; some quite long, others short, and still others of medium length, and Naturalists sometimes divide them into different groups according to the length of the tail. ”

“ Hence the difference between the teeth of these and of the Macaques.
[Pg 97]
THE CEYLON LOW-COUNTRY WANDEROO—THE WHITE-BEARDED MONKEY. [34]
“When observed in their native wilds,” writes Sir James Emerson Tennent, “a party of twenty or thirty of these creatures are generally busily engaged in the search for berries and buds. They are seldom to be seen on the ground, and then only when they have descended to recover seeds or fruit that have fallen at the foot of their favourite trees. ”

“ Like all the Monkeys which are lower in the animal scale than the great man-shaped Apes, the Macaques have narrow wrists, long linger bones, and a short and backwardly-placed thumb. There are nine bones in the wrist. The hip-and haunch-bones are long, and the first are hollowed out, and their direction refers to the method of progression on all-fours, and their general appearance is rather that noticed in the regular four-footed beast of prey, and they differ much in breadth relatively to those of man. ”

“ Male elk and deer in the rutting season; male elephants over fifteen years of age; all bears over one year of age, and especially "pet" bears; all gorillas, chimpanzees and orangs over seven years of age (puberty) ; all adult male baboons, gibbons, rhesus monkeys, callithrix or green monkeys, Japanese red-faced monkeys and large macaques; many adult bison bulls and cows of individually bad temper; also gaur, Old World buffalo, anoa bulls, many individually bad African antelopes, gnus and hartebeests ”

“ I was walking there on the quay, when at the door of a bird-fancier's shop I saw a green monkey and a blue and yellow macaw. The monkey put its paw through the bars of its cage and caught hold of my coat, while the blue parrot turned its head and looked at me in such an affectionate manner that I stopped, holding the monkey's paw with one hand, and scratching the parrot's head with the other. The little monkey gently drew my hand within reach of her mouth, the parrot half shut its eyes and made a little purring noise to express its pleasure. ”