A Hand-book to the Primates, Volume 2 (of 2)

by Henry O. Forbes

THE BABOONS, MANGABEYS, AND MACAQUES

(Continued).

THE MACAQUES. GENUS MACACUS.

Macacus, Lacép., Mem. de l'Inst., iii., p. 450 (1801).

This genus embraces a large number of species which are characterised by having a thick-set body and short stout limbs, with the thumb set backward. The muzzle is considerably produced and rounded, but the nose does not extend as far out as the plane of the upper lip; the nostrils open in advance of its termination, and are directed obliquely outwards and downwards; their cheek-pouches are large, and their lips thick and protrusile; their eyes are approximated, and look out from below thick and prominent superciliary ridges; their ears are naked and applied flatly to the sides of the head and their hind upper angle is pointed; their callosities, which extend with age, are often surrounded by a portion of the buttocks, which is always nude. The tail is long, short, tufted, or reduced to a mere tubercle, and it may be quite invisible externally. Some have the hair of the head long, and radiating in all directions; others have the face encircled by a kind of mane. In some northern forms, the whole body is covered with a woolly fur, as a protection against cold.

In the skull the facial region predominates over the cranial, and the lower margin of the frontal bones are exserted to form a thick prominent ridge over the orbits and nose; the mastoid process on each side of the skull, behind the ear, is very prominent for the attachment of a muscle which assists in opening the mouth and in swallowing their food. Strong muscles also stretch from the back of the head to the spine for the support of the head. The canine teeth are long, and press against the anterior pre-molars of the lower jaw, the position of which is modified or distorted by the pressure, thus enabling these animals to crush and open hard-shelled fruits. Their anterior and median lower molars are four-cusped, while the posterior is markedly larger, and has five cusps and a posterior talon. The carpus, or wrist, possesses the central (os centrale) bone, and the fingers have their metacarpal bones elongated. The caudal vertebræ in the species of this genus are usually numerous; even in the short-tailed species they vary from fifteen to seventeen in number, the reduction in the length of the tail being the result of a great diminution in the size, not in the number, of the vertebræ. In the tail of one species (M. inuus), however, they are reduced in number to two or three; in the same species the tail lacks the chevron (or V-shaped) bones on its under side, as well as the processes to which the muscles for its movement are attached. Most of the Macaques have a throat-sac, which communicates with the larynx under the thyroid cartilage, and which fills with air, acting as a resonator to their voice.

The Macaques are among the commonest Monkeys of India and the East Indian islands. They occur also in Northern Africa (Morocco), and in Gibraltar, across the Straits. Eastwards they extend into Thibet and Northern China. They are also found in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, and in Timor, this being the most eastern habitat of any of the Anthropoidea except that of Cynopithecus niger. Dr. Blanford, in his "Mammals of British India," says that the species of the present genus resemble each other in their habits; they are found in flocks, often of considerable size, and generally composed of both sexes and of all ages. They are active animals, though less agile in their movements, whether on trees or on the ground, than the Langurs (vide infrà). Their food is varied, most of the species, if not all, eating insects as well as seeds, fruits, &c., and one kind feeding entirely on Crustacea. They have occasionally been known to devour Lizards, and, it is said, Frogs also. All have the habit of cramming food into their cheek-pouches for mastication at leisure.... The voice and gestures of all the species (M. silenus perhaps excepted) are similar, and differ from those of both the Gibbons and Langurs. Tickell notices this in his MS. Notes, and gives the following details, which are worthy of quotation: "Anger is generally silent, or, at most, expressed by a low hoarse monotone, 'Heu,' not so gular or guttural as a growl; ennui and a desire for company by a whining 'Hom,' invitation, deprecation, entreaty, by a smacking of the lips and a display of the incisors into a regular broad grin, accompanied with a subdued grunting chuckle, highly expressive, but not to be rendered on paper; fear and alarm by a loud harsh shriek, 'Kra,' or 'Kraouh,' which serves also as a warning to the others who may be heedless of danger. Unlike the Langurs and Gibbons, they have no voice, if calling to one another."

The majority of the species are very docile when young. They thrive well, and several of them have bred in confinement. The period of gestation is about seven months, only a single young one, as a rule, being produced at a birth. They become adult at the age of four or five years, but breed earlier.

In regard to the expression of emotion among these Monkeys, Mr. Darwin has recorded of different species that when pleased they draw back the corners of the mouth in a species of smile, become red in the face when angry, and pale when afraid.

The term Macaque was given to these monkeys by Buffon, who took it, however, from what is supposed to have been the native name of an African species of Monkey, and misapplied it to this Indian group. Macacus is therefore the Latinised form of that word, which has now been applied too long to be changed.