Palm fruit be mine

Captured here, once again, is a series of very blur shots of the Long-tailed macaque. It is no fault of the photographer *cough*Grant*cough* of course. It's the camera! It just can't seem to take clear pictures for some reason or other :)

Along with its troop, it was hanging around a couple of palm trees, some just hanging out(literally), and others eating. Long-tailed macaques are also known as Crab eating macaques but that name is somewhat deceptive since crabs do not make up a large part of their diet. Hence, we prefer the calling them long-tailed macaques. These macaques are mostly frugivorous, meaning that they eat fruits mostly, like the Oriental pied hornbill. However, they are also known to take animal prey when available, such as crabs, insects and bird eggs.

Important note: These monkeys are widespread due to their adaptability. Their range extends from India to Southeast asia. Also, a long-tailed macaque found in one country, for instance, may not be exactly the same as another in another country. There are in fact, an astounding 10 subspecies of this monkey!

So great can their impact on the ecosystem be that they have been named as one of "100 of the world's worst invasive alien species" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature which stated that

"Species were selected for the list using two criteria: their serious impact on biological diversity and/or human activities, and their illustration of important issues of biological invasion. To ensure a wide variety of examples, only one species from each genus was selected. Absence from the list does not imply that a species poses a lesser threat."

But before we start to bring out the pitch forks, let's remember that the number one species that has wrecked havoc on the earth in its entirety(in recent times) are the Homo sapiens.

Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) eating fruit from palm tree

Macaca : "Oh Monkey-God, please send down more red, juicy fruits..."
God of the monkeys : *silence*

References

Cawthon Lang KA. (2006 January 6). Primate Factsheets: Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) Taxonomy, Morphology, & Ecology Retrieved February 14, 2010, from Primate Info Net: http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/long-tailed_macaque

Lowe S., B. M. (2004, November). Home: Resources: IUCN Publications & Documents: Publications. Retrieved February 14, 2010, from The World Consevation Union: http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2000-126.pdf