Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Macaca maura

Macaca maura
The Moor Macaque (Macaca maura) is an macaque with brown/black body fur with a pale rump patch and pink bare skin on the rump. It is about 50-58.5cm and eats figs, bamboo seeds, buds, sprouts, invertebrates and cereals in tropical rainforests. It is sometimes called "dog-ape" because of its dog-like muzzles, although they are no more closely related to apes than any other Old World monkey is. It inhabits only Sulawesi (Indonesia).

The Moor Macaque is endangered mostly due to habitat loss from an expanding human population and deforestation to increase agricultural land area. It is estimated that only 1000 Moor Macaques are left in Sulawesi. Because several Sulawesi macaque species are endangered, information on ecology and behaviour is essential and conservation management plans are being designed.

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