Japanese macaque

The Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), also called the snow monkey, is a largely terrestrial Old World monkey that is native to Japan. It lives in a wide range of forests, from subtropical woodland in the south of its range to cold subarctic forest in the northern mountains, and its thick coat grows denser as temperatures fall. Males average about 11.3 kilograms and females about 8.4 kilograms. The species is diurnal and omnivorous, eating many kinds of plants as well as other foods, and females can live up to 32 years. Troops are organised around stable female dominance hierarchies in which a daughter inherits her mother's rank. Hunting was banned in 1947 and numbers have grown since the 1940s, so macaques are now a serious pest on farmland, and the population at Jigokudani Monkey Park is famous for bathing in hot springs in winter.