…Amazing Animal Books
Snow Monkeys, Nagano, Japan by Yblieb
Japanese macaque Facts
Old World Monkey
Alternative names: Macaca fuscata, Snow monkey, Japanese monkey, Nihonzaru
Where in the world? Japan
Habitat: Subtropical (warm) and subarctic (cool) forests
Diet: Fruit, leaves, seeds, ferns, insects, soil, nuts and roots
Size: 20 to 22 inches long
Weight: 19 to 25 pounds
Average lifespan: Up to 30 years
Conservation status: Least Concern
The Japanese macaque is, as you might suspect, only to be found in Japan – particularly on the islands of Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku, where it is a large part of the local culture.
Japanese macaques have been observed extensively in the wild, more so than most species of primates. In Koshima, it was observed that the Japanese macaques started to wash their potatoes in the water rather than simply brushing off the dirt with their hands. At first, they were simply washing the potatoes, but then they learned that the potatoes tasted better with the salt from the seawater and so they started dipping the potatoes in the water after each bite.
Taken from IP Factly’s 25 Awesome Apes & Monkeys
YouTube video playlist
Details of the videos featured are underneath.
Follow this link for more monkey videos.
The Playlist:
- Macaques play with snowballs – Snow Babies – BBC One Christmas 2012
- Snow monkeys soak in hot springs of Japan by TheGuardian 5
- Monkeys relaxing – BBC wildlife
- Snow Monkeys at Play – Natural World – BBC
- Monkey Cuisine – Secret Wilderness: Japan – BBC
- Snow Monkeys – Natural World – BBC Two
