macaques in australia....

macaques in australia....
21-04-2008

poor old macaques, everyones least favorite monkey....

despite being bitten and attacked on various occasions i actually macaques make up for what they lack in beauty with behavior. easily, one of the more fascinating types of monkeys to watch they are always highly active and group orientated like their baboon relatives.

so what macaques are in australia? well, quite a few actually...

long-tailed
lion-tailed
pig-tailed
rhesus
sulawesi crested
tonkean
japanese
bonnet

and sadly, its probably only those used for medical research such as the lon-tailed macaques that have a certainty to continue long-term. australian zoos are likely to phase-out all macaque species, and many species linger only in private collections. something i see as a shame.

21-04-2008

Not mine... I think they're a very interesting group. You still have quite a wide diversity of species in Oz zoos, perhaps because of proximity to Asia? I saw the Tonkean macaques at Perth once- the only ones I've ever seen though there's a few in Europe too.

In the Uk few zoos have macaques nowadays apart from the endangered Lion-tailed which is kept by several zoos here and the Sulawesi or crested macaque which is more numerous still. One or two smaller zoos still have a few pig-tailed macaques and there are some groups of Rhesus macaques in Safari Parks. There used to be more of these but there was a 'scare' some time back about(i think it was) Hepatitis being transferred to humans by direct contact from macaque saliva, so one or two large groups numbering 100+ were quietly slaughtered wholesale.
There is also one large group of Barbary macaques at a specialist 'monkey forest' tourist attraction. Edinburgh recently imported Japanese macaques for their 'Eurasian' wild life park in the highlands. This is the first time I know of that this species has been seen in the UK.
Other species which could formerly be seen are now
either 'extinct' or almost so in our zoos;
Moor macaque
Stump-tailed macaque
Pig -tailed Macaque
Crab-eating(=long tailed) macaque
Bonnet macaque
Rhesus macaque(in conventional zoos)
Barbary macaque( " " ")
Assamese macaque

Possibly the most interesting macaque display I've seen in a zoo were the group of crab-eaters(=long-tailed?) at Basel Zoo. They used to leap into the large pond or moat of the enclosure and swim about underwater, as I believe they do in the wild.

21-04-2008

I miss crab-eating macaques immensely. This is one species I would like to see reappear in the future, and because of the stock of them privately kept in Australia could be done....once we sort out all the priority primates first

21-04-2008

Does anyone know how many of each survive in Australia. And i've been pissed on by a rhesus macaque when i was little.

22-04-2008

I think the large group of sulawesi crested macaques is probably the most popular exhibit in Paignton's Monkey Heights. They have a large indoor/outdoor enclosure and are always doing something to entertain the visitors.

22-04-2008

i would like to see rhesus maintained in open range zoos.

this is because i want one open range zoo to realise that there is a goldmine of indian hoofstock and thus another "safari" attraction staring them in the face that they haven't capitalised on..


pigtails and long-tails offer an alternative of siamangs to mix with orangs. all three species interact relatively peacefully (if you can call it that) in sepilok..

22-04-2008

This is the true value of smaller zoos in Australia; to maintain and breed such species that the bigger zoos no longer want.

I know I'm on my soap-box again, but there seems to be a lot of "trendy-ism" in the selection of primates to be maintained in the region's zoos. We are told for instance that Francois' langurs are "viable"- news to me- I don't think they have bred yet, have they?
At the same time we are told that Sulawesi Crested macaques and De Brazza's guenons are "not viable", when both species breed well when given a decent chance.

The primate TAG list seems to be more wishful thinking than realism.

22-04-2008

I love macaques. I first learnt about them at the school I used to attend in Canberra many many moons ago. Our classroom (made up of 4 classes) used to sponsor crab-eating (=long tailed) macaques at the zoo. From memory every classroom sponsored something different and we learnt about that particular animal. We used to have cake days etc to raise money for them ...

22-04-2008

We have 1.1 rhesus macaques at Bredls, but the male is castrated so there will be no beebies.

22-04-2008

i agree with Patrick about mixing macaques with orangs as an alternative to the siamang.
when taronga opened it orang rainforest in 1994 they originally translocated a large troop of CE Macaques from the zoo's historic monkey pits and mixed them in with the orangs. it was to be a short-lived affair, with the wily macaques constantly escaping and so they were sent away, only to be diagnosed with diesease.
i lament the loss of crab-eating macaque and de-brazza's guenon in the way that many of us mourn the loss of jaguars and brown bears. but i guess the show must go on.............(though they'd be an easy species to 'bring back from the dead_)

23-04-2008

Nah, jaguars are no loss...... they are just chunky, un-fit looking South American leopards!

23-04-2008

Ara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wash your mouth out with soap and water please!

23-04-2008

Ha! Ha! Sorry Steve; I was just kidding - trying to get a bite out of patrick!

I know you love your old girl.........(and your jaguar! )

How is she, by the way? You gave us a wonderful description of her, but said that she is fading...

26-04-2008

Taronga's success with mixing macaques and orangs was a bit 'artificial'; the macaques were a castrated/non-breeding group and it only worked with certain orangs. Ultimately it was the concerns of Herpes A that did the macaques in, as the management were concerned about transmission to the orangs. It was a pity as the mixing of the two species did improve the general feel of the exhibit. Orangs can be, however, temperamental playmates. There are seriously screwed up gibbons in off-display enclosures in some US zoos where the experiment didn't go well (and gibbons can play nasty too). That said I have seen the two kept together.

I would like to see the macaque/orang exhibit tried again, but on a larger scaled enclosure. Not likely in Australia now, though.

26-04-2008

Unfortunately the Tonkeans were a doomed species at Perth. Only one successful rearing of a male youngster, who eventually took over from dad as being dominant. No other Tonkeans could be secured from Europe/US and so the species went nowhere. Funnily enough the species was classified as Moors maura for years.

Similar picture for the Lion-tails. It was a breeding priority species for years, but only Melbourne and Adelaide showed interest. For some reason ASMP were unable to import unrelated blood (don't ask me, there are loads in zoos) and so the program stagnated.

Perth did have some success with the Sulawesis but again no other zoos showed any interest.

The Japanese group at Perth became a 'phase-out' species because they did not fit into the SE Asia mantra. In one of those ironies, the very popular, yet, old concrete and link-mesh Jap macaque enclosure was demolished for a brand spanking bird demonstration building... didn't last two years before it was demolished due to poor planning/lack of expenditure. What happened to the non-breeding group - farmed out to Cairns. And there are unrelated animals in Launceston. Madness.

ASMP wouldn't touch pig-tails, rhesus, long-tails or bonnets - too common.

As mentioned before the Herpes A scared the ARAZPA zoos off keeping macaques. And yet as Pertinax mentioned there is a new walk-through macaque enclosure in the UK (and it only has one species!). These species are good displays, but unfortunately there is alot of narrow-sightedness.