A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Science
A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)
Forbes, Henry O. (Henry Ogg)
Primates
_Inuus nemestrinus_, Geoffr., Ann. Mus., xix., p. 101 (1812).
{17}_Macacus nemestrinus_, F. Cuvier, Hist. Nat. Mamm, livr. xlii.
(1820); livr. xliv. (1822); Gray, Cat. Monkeys Brit. Mus., p. 29 (1870);
Schl., Mus. Pays-Bas, vii., p. 110 (1876); Anderson, Zool. Exped.
Yun-nan, p. 77 (1878; with full synonymy).
CHARACTERS.--MALE.--Of large size, even approaching that of "a good sized
Mastiff." (_Anderson._) Body short, and broad-chested; head flattened;
muzzle long and Baboon-like; supra-orbital ridges large; limbs long and
powerful; tail slender, about one-third the length of the body, pointed,
and carried erect; face, ears, and callosities nude; sometimes a short
membrane uniting the first phalanges of the fore and middle fingers and the
second and third toes.
Fur short, longer over the shoulders; that on the top of the head radiating
from a centre, short, erect and abundant; hair below and on the tail less
abundant, that on the belly very sparse.
In the skull the protruding facial region is much larger proportionately
than the cranial region; the orbits large, and nearly circular.
Face dark flesh-colour; ears and callosities the same; general colour of
fur olive, the hairs being at the base grey, ringed higher up with
alternate black and yellow bars, the predominance of the one bar over the
other producing a brighter olive, even a yellow, or a deep brown colour;
top of the head deep brown or brownish-black, extending along the middle of
the back, broadening on the rump and basal part of the tail. Sides of the
face blackish-grey; under surface of the body and inner side of the limbs
greyish white; arms and legs lighter than the back; outer surface of the
thighs olive-grey; hands and feet olive-brown.
{18}Length of body, 18½ inches; of tail, 8 inches.
FEMALES.--Similar to the males; the young of both sexes more brightly
coloured than the adults. Gestation in the Pig-tailed Macaque lasts,
according to Dr. Blanford, seven months and twenty days. A singular variety
of a female from the Baram river, in Sarawak, Borneo, is of a dark fulvous
above, darker in the mesial line, much paler on the lower surface, and
growing nearly white on the middle of the chest.
DISTRIBUTION.--Tenasserim, and chiefly in the southern parts of that
province; Southern Burmah, the Malay peninsula, Bangka, Sumatra, Java, and
Borneo.
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. Charles
Hose records, "and in some places they are used to climb the cocoa-nut
trees to throw down the nuts, the Monkeys having been taught to throw down
only the ripe ones." This observation as to its collecting cocoa-nuts was
also made many years ago by Sir Stamford Raffles in Sumatra. When old, the
males are very savage, and will attack a Dog when provoked.
VIII. THE LION-TAILED MACAQUE. MACACUS SILENUS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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