Formosan rock macaque

The Formosan rock macaque (Macaca cyclopis), also known as the Formosan rock monkey or Taiwanese macaque, is a macaque found only on the island of Taiwan, where it is the only native primate apart from humans. It has also been introduced to Japan. Robert Swinhoe described the species in 1862. Adults measure about 50 to 60 centimetres in body length, weigh roughly 5 to 12 kilograms, with females smaller, and carry a moderately long tail of 26 to 45 centimetres. The coat is brown or grey, and like other macaques it has pouches in the cheeks for storing food to eat later in a safe place. It lives in mixed conifer and hardwood temperate forest, in bamboo and in grassland between about 100 and 3,600 metres, in large stable troops of both sexes. It is active by day, in the trees and on the ground, and feeds on fruit, tender leaves, buds, grass stems, insects, snails and bird eggs. A female bears a single young, with mating from October to January and a gestation of about five and a half months. Farmers hunt it for crop damage and animals have been taken for medical research, while the habit of feeding macaques in parks and along roads has increased conflict with people.