Macaque

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Macaques[1]
Crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Cercopithecinae
Genus: Macaca
Lacépède, 1799
Type species
Simia inuus
Linnaeus, 1758 = Simia sylvanus Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text.

The macaques (play /məˈkɑːk/[2] or /məˈkæk/)[citation needed] constitute a genus (Macaca /məˈkɑːkə/) of Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae.

Contents

[edit] Description

Aside from humans (genus Homo), the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from Japan to Afghanistan and, in the case of the barbary macaque, to North Africa. Twenty-two macaque species are currently recognised, and they include some of the monkeys best known to non-zoologists, such as the rhesus macaque, Macaca mulatta, and the barbary macaque, 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.

In some species skin folds join the second through fifth toes, almost reaching the first metatarsal joint.[3]

[edit] Social behaviour

Macaques have a very intricate social structure and hierarchy. If a macaque that is lower level in the social chain has eaten berries and there are none left for a higher level macaque, then the one higher in status can, within this social organisation, remove the berries from the other monkey's mouth.[4]

[edit] Human usage

Several species of macaque are used extensively in animal testing, particularly in the neuroscience of visual perception and the visual system.

Nearly all (73-100%) pet and captive macaques are carriers of the herpes B virus. This virus is harmless to macaques, but infections of humans, while rare, are potentially fatal, a risk that makes macaques unsuitable as pets.[5] 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.[6]

[edit] Species

A black macaque taking a self-portrait
Stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides)
Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata)
Pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina)

Genus Macaca

Prehistoric (fossil) species:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Groves, C. (2005). Wilson, D. E., & Reeder, D. M, eds. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 161–165. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3. 
  2. ^ macaque pronunciation by Oxford Dictionaries
  3. ^ Ankel-Simons, Friderun (2000). "Hands and Feet". Primate anatomy: an introduction. Academic Press. p. 340. ISBN 0120586703. http://books.google.com/books?id=5fttVRAHA4MC&pg=PA340. 
  4. ^ "The Life of Mammals" Hosted by David Attenborough, 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation. BBC Video
  5. ^ Ostrowski, Stephanie R.; et al.. "B-virus from Pet Macaque Monkeys: An Emerging Threat in the United States?". Emerging Infectious Diseases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)) 4 (1). http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol4no1/ostrowsk.htm. Retrieved January 2010. 
  6. ^ University of Toronto - News@UofT - Performing monkeys in Asia carry viruses that could jump species to humans (Dec 8/05)
  7. ^ Hartwig, Walter Carl (2002). The primate fossil record. Cambridge University Press. p. 273. ISBN 0521663156. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ezm1OA_s6isC&pg=PA273. 

[edit] External links

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages