Rhesus Macaque

Measurement

Head to body length

Head & Body Length (HBL): 41- 66 (male), 37 – 58 (female) Tail Length (TL): 12.5 - 31(male), 12.5 - 28 (female) Relative Tail Length (RTL): <70%

Body weight (kg)

Body weight (kg): Adult Male: 4 – 14.1; Adult Female: 3 – 10

Justification

In natural habitats, the Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) is facing threats from anthropogenic activities (e.g. hunting and wildlife trade), therefore it is likely that in these areas, the population will be gradually declining. Habituated groups in Central Myanmar can adapt well in human habitation and their populations are gradually increasing. This might lead to human and non- human primate conflicts in areas of co- existence.

POPULATION & HABITAT

Wild population

Trend

increasing

Myanmar population

Unknown

Global population

Unknown

Details

Exact population data of this species is unknown. The generation length for Macaca mulatta is 14 years https://datadryad.org/resource/doi:10.5061/dryad.gd0m3/1. Group size ranges from 80 to 200 individuals in some provisioned areas such as Mt. Popa, Po-win-taung, Ye-ta-gon- taung, Nga-mauk-taung and Kyauk-taw-taung. Overpopulation was observed in Hlawga Wildlife Park (ca. 1,000 individuals), where they are breeding year-round due to the surplus of food. AOO of the species is 476 km2 and its EOO covers 268017.782 km2 in its habitats.

Habitat ecology

M. mulatta inhabits mixed deciduous forest, evergreen forest and secondary forest (Mittermeier et al.,2013). This species can live as a commensal with humans in some areas of Myanmar. Although they are omnivores, they prefer fruits, seeds, shoot and insects.

Distribution

Threats to survival

Habitat fragmentation, habitat loss and degradation, hunting for consumption and wildlife trade are threats to the species.

Instruction: The visualization shows threats that are impacting each species. According to IUCN, direct threats are the proximate human activities or processes that have impacted, are impacting, or may impact the the status of the taxon being assessed. Click of the highlighted icons to see details each threat category.

Use and trade

Hunting for protein sources, model for biomedical research, trophies and live animal trade occurred especially near border areas.

Conservation Actions

Research

Research undertaken

M. mulatta was designated as normally protected animals according to the Conservation of Biodiversity and Protected Area Law (2018).

Research needed

Law enforcement and effective conservation strategy are needed to be strengthened. Habitat conservation, genetic conservation and species conservation should be promoted in Myanmar. The genetic sequence of Myanmar rhesus macaques is closely related with Indian Origin rhesus macaque: their genetic structure is significantly suited for biomedical research. Therefore, effective conservation action should be implemented for wild rhesus groups in natural habitats. Additional molecular study of M. mulatta is needed. The public awareness program (How can human and monkey co-exist in same habitat?) needs to be delivered to local community, and law enforcement is needed to prohibit wildlife trade.

Assessed by

Aye Mi San,Naw May Lay Thant,Ngwe Lwin,Aung Ye Tun,Nyan Hlaing,Yuzuru Hamada

Reviewed by

James Tallant,Monica Böhm

references

Resources

National Redlist of Threatened Species in Myanmar

PDF

The Myanmar National Red List of threatened species contributes to the GEF funded “Strengthening Sustainability of Protected Area Management in Myanmar” project. To support the National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan (2015-2020), Target 12 for commitment to prevent the extinction of known threatened species and improve their conservation status, the National Red List of some selected taxa has been produced. This report summarizes the assessment process and its results with detailed descriptions for some selected threatened species in Myanmar.

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Extinction risk