Macaque
The macaques (pronounced /məˈkæk/) constitute a genus (Macaca, /məˈkækə/) of Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae.
Aside from humans (genus Homo), the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from northern Africa to Japan. Twenty-two macaque species are currently recognised, and they include some of the monkeys best known to non-zoologists, such as the Rhesus Macaque (as the Rhesus Monkey), Macaca mulatta, and the Barbary Macaque (as the Barbary Ape), M. sylvanus, a colony of which lives on the Rock of Gibraltar. Although several species lack tails, and their common names therefore refer to them as apes, these are true monkeys, with no greater relationship to the true apes than any other Old World monkeys.
Several species of macaque are used extensively in animal testing.
In the late 1990s it was discovered that nearly all (about 90%) pet and captive macaques are carriers of the herpes B virus. This virus is harmless to macaques, but infections of humans, whilst rare, are potentially fatal. A 2005 University of Toronto study showed that urban performing macaques also carried simian foamy virus, suggesting they could be involved in the species-to-species jump of similar retroviruses to humans.
Macaques also have a very intricate social structure and hierarchy. If a macaque who is lower level in the social chain has eaten berries and there is none left for the higher level macaque, then the one higher in status can, within this social organization, remove the berries from the other monkey's mouth.
Species list
Genus Macaca M. sylvanus group
Barbary Macaque, Macaca sylvanus
M. nemestrina group
Lion-tailed Macaque, Macaca silenus
Southern Pig-tailed Macaque or Beruk, Macaca nemestrina
Northern Pig-tailed Macaque, Macaca leonina
Pagai Island Macaque, Macaca pagensis
Siberut Macaque, Macaca siberu
Moor Macaque, Macaca maura
Booted Macaque, Macaca ochreata
Tonkean Macaque, Macaca tonkeana
Heck's Macaque, Macaca hecki
Gorontalo Macaque, Macaca nigriscens
Celebes Crested Macaque, Macaca nigra
M. fascicularis group
Crab-eating Macaque, Macaca fascicularis
Stump-tailed Macaque, Macaca arctoides
M. mulatta group
Rhesus Macaque, Macaca mulatta
Formosan Rock Macaque, Macaca cyclopis
Japanese Macaque, Macaca fuscata
M. sinica group
Toque Macaque, Macaca sinica
Bonnet Macaque, Macaca radiata
Assam Macaque, Macaca assamensis
Tibetan Macaque, Macaca thibetana
Arunachal Macaque, Macaca munzala
Prehistoric (fossil) species: Macaca anderssoni Schlosser, 1924
Macaca jiangchuanensis Pan et al., 1992
Macaca libyca Stromer, 1920
Macaca majori Schaub & Azzaroli in Comaschi Caria, 1969 (sometimes included in M. sylvanus)
Translation
The word "Macaque" occurs as such in the following languages: English, French.
Translation(s) in other languages: Breton: Makak, Bulgarian: Макаци, Catalan: Macaco, Danish: Makakaber, German: Makaken, Spanish: Macaca, Esperanto: Makako, Korean: 마카크, Ido: Makako, Italian: Macaca, Georgian: მაკაკი, Lithuanian: Makakos, Marathi: सिंहपुच्छ वानर, Dutch: Makaken, Japanese: マカク属, Polish: Macaca, Portuguese: Macaca, Quechua: Makaka, Russian: Макаки, Sundanese: Beruk, Finnish: Makakit, Swedish: Makaker, Turkish: Şebek, Chinese: 獼猴.
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