With food scarce, lion-tailed macaques come down forest canopies, enter the urban jungle

Sub: Environment

Sec: Species in news

Context:

Lion-tailed macaques were seen in urban areas of Valparai town in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu searching for food waste.
Their natural habitat, Puthuthottam, is about four kilometres away.
The Valparai plateau, with its tea and coffee estates and forest patches within the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, hosts one of the 40 populations of lion-tailed macaques in the Western Ghats.

About lion-tailed Macaque (Macaca silenus):

Also known as the wanderoo.
They are arboreal primates native to the Western Ghats.
They are rainforest dwellers, often being found in the upper canopy of tropical moist evergreen forests or monsoon forests.
Important for seed dispersal.
Gestation lasts approximately six months.
Around 2,500 mature individuals are spread across the Western Ghats between the Kalakkad Hills in the south and Sirsi-Honnavara in the north.
Threat: Habitat fragmentation due to large amounts of timber harvesting and exotic plantations.
Protection measures:
- IUCN Red List: Endangered
- Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972– Schedule I

Bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata):

The bonnet macaque, also known as zati, is a species of macaque endemic to southern India.
Its distribution is limited by the Indian Ocean on three sides and the Godavari and Tapti Rivers, along with its related competitor the rhesus macaque in the north.
Land use changes in the last few decades have resulted in changes in its distribution boundaries with the rhesus macaque, raising concern for its status in the wild.
They are diurnal, arboreal, and terrestrial.
They feed on fruits, nuts, seeds, flowers, invertebrates, and cereals.
In southern India, this macaque exists as commensal to humans, feeding on food given by humans and raiding crops and houses.

Source: TH