The monkeys we've seen so far are the Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), and possibly the Pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina).
Monkey troop at Sebana + 1
The monkey believed to be a Pig-tailed macaque(the extreme right in the photo above) has a short tail that curls and is somewhat solitary, yet it appeared to be following the rest of the long-tailed macaques around, though usually at a bit of a distance. The distance seemed to be mainly put there by the long-tailed macaques. Possibly because this monkey is apparently a bit of a bully. We were told that this male has been witnessed "raping" juvenile long-tailed macaques though we have yet to see this for ourselves, and frankly, we're not sure we want to.
The monkeys to the left of the pig-tailed macaque are long-tailed macaques.
We didn't count the number of juveniles and adults, though at first glance, it looked like there were many babies. May mean that the population is growing which may not be a good sign. Cute as the babies are, this may not spell particularly good news for the hornbills since these monkeys may harass them in their nests.
Long-tailed macaque at Sebana Cove
Notice his somewhat large testicles, aka balls. It is not for no reason that Mr Monkey has big balls. And no, he is not built this way because he is particularly sex-crazed(but,then again, we did see a pair...urm..."go at it" in the middle of the road in front of god and everyone!). In fact, it is believed that large testicles are a result of female promiscuity; i.e. the more sexual partners a female has, the larger the primate's testicles! (Google: Sperm Competition)
"NO!" you say? "Females are known for their undying fidelity!" Well... "Snort!" say we.
Let's delve deeper into this.
Problem: Female mates with male. Despite preventative attempts by male, female continues mating with other males. Male can't ensure that his sperms have managed to snare the ultimate prize-the egg.
Solution: Male bombards the female reproductive tract with spermies(not a real word). And to be able to do this, he develops GINORMOUS(also not a real word) TESTICLES!
At the other extreme: Gorillas live in harems of one male to many females. So, the females hardly have the opportunity to mate with anyone else but the silverback, the "patriarch". For this "macho-male" behaviour, the silverback is rewarded with relatively teeny weeny testicles.
Bet you're wondering- so what about humans? Well... we're somewhere in between. Meaning, women are not highly promiscuous, but neither are they Sitas*(for lack of a more well known devoted mythical woman).
Long- tailed macaque looking at us before climbing over the fence into the tennis court
Zebu-tionary:
- Spermies = Sperms
- Ginormous = Gigantic + enormous
- Sitas* : Sita is the devoted and faithful wife of Rama in the Ramayana.
AKA Siti Dewi(Malay), Dewi Sinta(Bahasa Indonesia), Nang Sida(Thai), Nang Sanda(Lao), Thida Dewi(Burmese), Putri Gandingan(Tagalog)
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