The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma/Mammalia/Class Mammalia/Subclass Eutheria/Order Primates/Suborder Anthropoidea/Family Cercopithecidæ/Subfamily Cercopithecinæ/Genus Macacus/Macacus cynomolgus
9. Macacus cynomolgus. Macaque, or crab-eating Monkey.
- Simia cynomolgus, Schreb. Säugth. i, p. 91, pl. xiii (fig. Buffon), nec Linn.
- Macacus irus, F. Cuv. Mém. Mus. iv, p. 120 (1818).
- Macacus carbonarius, F. Cuv. Hist. Nat. Mam. pl. xxxii (1825); Blyth, Cat. p. 9.
- Macacus aureus, Is. Geoffr. Voy. Bél., Zool. p. 58.
- Macacus cynomolgus, Blyth, Cat. p. 9; id. Mam. Birds Burma, p. 7; Anderson, An. Zool. Res. p. 73; id. Cat. p. 61.
Myouk-ta-nga, Burmese; Ta-o-tan, Tavoy and Arakan; Kamui-awut, Talain; Da-ouk, Sha-ok-li, Karen; Kru, Malay.
Fur of moderate length and nearly straight. Hair of the crown not lengthened, and usually directed backwards, but occasionally radiating somewhat irregularly from one or more centres, or forming a rudimentary crest. Tail nearly as long as the head and body. Caudal vertebræ 22.
Skull long and low, with the muzzle produced, and the orbits much broader than high.
Colour. The general tint of the upper surface varies from dusky or greyish brown to rufous or golden brown in different individuals; lower parts light greyish brown to nearly white. The hair of the upper parts varies from light brown to almost black at the base, the terminal portion being annulated with yellow and brown or black; on the shoulders there are usually three rings of each colour, fewer behind. In young specimens there is no annulation. Face, ears, and callosities varying from flesh-colour to dusky. Eye-lids white or bluish white in many cases.
Varieties. There are two prominent varieties of this well-known monkey—a dark-coloured form with dusky face (M. carbonarius), and a golden-rufous race (M. aureus). Both of these, as well as the normal yellowish-brown type, are found in Burma. The colour of the face varies greatly, some dark-furred individuals having a pale face, and vice versâ.
Dimensions. An old male measures:—head and body 22 inches, tail 19, hand 3·9, foot 5·5. In another the head and body are about 21 inches, tail 20. Females are smaller. A large adult male skull measures 5·3 inches in extreme length, 4·1 from anterior margin of foramen magnum, and 3·6 in breadth across the zygomatic arches; a female skull 4·35, 3, and 2·9 in the three dimensions.
Distribution. The crab-eating Monkey is found throughout a great part of Burma, including Arakan, especially along tidal creeks near the coast, and in the deltas of rivers. It is not known to occur on hills, nor has it been recorded with certainty from Upper Burma. It is found in the Nicobar Islands (? introduced), but not in the Andamans. Beyond our area it has a wide range throughout Siam and the Malayan peninsula and islands.
Habits. Tickell, in his MS. notes, gives an excellent description of this animal, from which most of the following details are derived. He says that these monkeys are usually met with in small parties of five to fifteen, consisting of one old male, four or five females, and their young. They are especially common on the banks of tidal creeks, where they live amongst the mangroves, and feed upon seeds, Crustacea, and insects. The claws and body of a crab were found in the cheek-pouch of a female shot in Arakan by Captain (afterwards Sir A.) Phayre. The tidal creeks are, in Tenasserim and Arakan, and in the delta of the Irawadi, the only highroads of the country; the monkeys, consequently, become familiarized with the sight of men, and will allow of a near approach and even pick up rice or fruit thrown to them. This I can confirm from my own observation; I have even known them, in Pegu, follow a boat for some distance.
They swim and dive well. Tickell mentions an instance of a wounded male, that had been shot and placed in a boat, jumping overboard and diving repeatedly, once to a distance of 50 yards, in order to avoid recapture.
There is no particular season for breeding. The young clings tenaciously to the mother for the first month, after which it ventures out little by little, and, to quote Tickell, "it is exceedingly amusing to watch the rough tenderness with which the latter [the mother] checks at first the over-venturesome sallies of the little animal, which is often pulled back by the tail, chastised with a cuff on the head, and then gravely huddled up to the breast, where the shrieks and chattering of the delinquent, which is just as fractious as a child under such circumstances, are soon appeased."
Like the rest of the genus, this monkey is easily tamed if taken young; it is intelligent and full of antics. The females continue gentle, but the males become morose and savage as they grow old.
This species is the Macaque of Buffon, but is not the Simia cynomolgos of Linnæus, which is an African baboon. F. Cuvier called attention to these facts in 1818, but his remarks appear to have been generally overlooked. As in the case of M. silenus, the name has been used too long to be altered now with a probability of a less familiar term being generally accepted.