The southern pig-tailed macaque (''Macaca nemestrina''), also known as the Sundaland pig-tailed macaque and Sunda pig-tailed macaque, is a medium-sized macaque that lives in

southern Thailand Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand region by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bounde ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is known locally as berok.

Etymology and taxonomy

The species epithet, ''nemestrina'', is an adjective (derived from Latin ''Nemestrinus'', meaning "the god of groves") modified to agree in gender with the feminine generic name. ''M. nemestrina'' formerly included the northern pig-tailed, Pagai Island, and Siberut macaques as subspecies. All four are now considered separate species.

Description

As with other ''Macaca'' species, males are larger than females; while males are measured at in length and in weight, females are measured at in length and in weight. This macaque has buff-brown fur, with a darker dorsal area and lighter ventral area. Its common name refers to the short tail held semi-erect, resembling the tail of a pig. Cercopithecidae - Macaca nemastrina

Behaviour and ecology

''M. nemestrina'' is mainly

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

, but also a skilled climber. Unlike almost all primates, these macaques love water. They live in large groups that split into smaller groups during daytime when they are

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

. They are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

, feeding mainly on fruits, seeds, berries, cereals,

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

, and

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s. A study in peninsular

found them to be the primary, and perhaps the only, seed dispersers of the

rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed- canopy old-growth tropical fores ...

species ''

Daemonorops ''Daemonorops'' was a genus of rattan palms in the family Arecaceae. Its species are now included within the genus ''Calamus''. Species found primarily in the tropics and subtropics of southeastern Asia with a few species extending into souther ...

calicarpa'' and ''

Calamus Calamus may refer to: Botany and zoology * ''Calamus'' (fish), a genus of fish in the family Sparidae * ''Calamus'' (palm), a genus of rattan palms * Calamus, the hollow shaft of a feather, also known as the quill * '' Acorus calamus'', the swe ...

castaneus''. There is a hierarchy among males, based on strength, and among females, based on heredity. Thus, the daughter of the alpha female will immediately be placed above all other females in the group. The alpha female leads the group, while the male role is more to manage conflict within the group and to defend it. Female gestation lasts around 5.7 months. She will give birth to one infant every two years. Weaning occurs at 4–5 months.

Sexual maturity Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans it might be considered synonymous with adulthood, but here puberty is the name for the process of biological sexual maturation, while adulthood is based on cultural definit ...

is reached at 3–5 years. In

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, they have been trained for 400 years to harvest coconuts.

Habitat and distribution

This macaque is mostly found in rainforest up to 2000 meters, but will also enter

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s and gardens.Payne, J., and C. M. Francis. 1998. ''A Field Guide to the Mammals of Borneo.'' The Sabah Society, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. It is found in the southern half of the Malay Peninsula (only just extending into southernmost

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

, Sumatra and

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in ...

. There are reports of the species having been present in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

before 1950, but these were likely escaped pets. The only pig-tailed macaques in Singapore today are introduced monkeys.

References

*Maestripieri D, 1999. Changes in Social Behavior and Their Hormonal Correlates during Pregnancy in Pig-tailed Macaques. International Journal of Primatology 20 : 707-718. *Rodman PS, 1991. Structural differentiation of microhabitats of sympatricmacaca fascicularis andM. nemestrina in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. International Journal of Primatology 12 : 357-375. *Oi T, 1990. Patterns of dominance and affiliation in wild pig-tailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina nemestrina) in West Sumatra. International Journal of Primatology 11 : 339-356.

External links

* ARKive
images and movies of the Sunda pig-tailed macaque ''(Macaca nemestrina)''Biolib
{{DEFAULTSORT:macaque, pig-tailed, southern southern pig-tailed macaque Primates of Southeast Asia southern pig-tailed macaque Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus