The Extinction Of The Lion Tailed Macaque

 

The lion tailed macaque, also known as “wanderoo” (Macaca Silenus) belonging to the CERCOPITHECIDAE family, is one of the smallest monkey species is congenital to the dense primary tropical forests in the mountains of the Western Ghats of the Southern Region of India. They are mostly found in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. An alarmingly large part of its habitat has been affected by tea, coffee & cardamom plantations and hydroelectric dams along with poaching, which has resulted in making this species vulnerable and close to extinction.

 

With black hair, the head with cheeks and the chin is covered with silver-white mane which gives birth to one more name “Bartaffe”- (beard ape) in German. With a length of about 42-61cm and 2-10kg weight, it is a part of smaller macaques. Getting its name from its tail, the tail is about 25cm long with a tuft like a lion at the end. In the wild, it lives up to about 20 years and 30 years in captivity.

 

Its stomach is adapted to digest simple sugars and carbohydrates like humans which is received from ripe fruits and seeds, and its proteins are derived from insects, caterpillars, spiders, termites etc. Snails, bird eggs, nestlings, lizards. They stick to the wet evergreen forests where there is abundance of the resources they require. The Lion Tailed Macaque (LTM) mostly stays in the topmost canopy and hardly come down to the ground even for things like water. They usually stay in troops of 15, like other monkeys, and keep in touch regularly when moving with ‘cooing” calls which are very soft and low pitched. 17 different vocal patterns are used by them to communicate. Body language, such as yawning with a grimace or smacking their lips, is yet another way of communication the LTM’s follow.

 

Sexual maturity is gained at the age of 5 for females and 8 years for the males. The duration of gestation is about 6 months (165 days). The females have a menstrual cycle similar to that of a human. An area under the females swells which indicates that she is ready to mate and once she conceives, she would not mate for over 20 months. Only 1 infant is given birth at a time and that’s only once in 3 years. Most of the births are during the south-west monsoon season although there is no fixed season.

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lion , extinct

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