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Barbary ape


n.

A tailless monkey (Macaca sylvana) of Gibraltar and northern Africa. Also called magot.


 
 

Macaca sylvanus

SUBFAMILY

Cercopithecinae

TRIBE

Papionini

TAXONOMY

Macaca sylvanus (Linnaeus, 1758), "Barbary Coast," north Africa. This is the only one of 20 species of the genus Macaca that occurs in Africa. All other species are confined to Asia and Southeast Asia.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: Barbary ape; French: Magot; German: Berberaffe; Spanish: Mono de Berberea.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Fur coarse; grayish yellow agouti dorsally and gray-white ventrally. Eyelids pale. Face pink in juveniles but becoming progressively mottled with dark freckles with increasing maturity. There is moderate sexual dimorphism in body size. Head and body length for males: 25.5 in (64.0 cm); tail length: 1 in (2.5 cm). Body mass: 31 lb 15 oz (14.5 kg) for males and 21 1b 13 oz (9.9 kg) for females.

DISTRIBUTION

Originally occurred widely in north Africa and even in southern Europe. Disappeared from Tunisia in relatively recent times and now restricted to isolated forest regions in Algeria and northeastern Morocco. There is a relatively large, artificially provisioned (fed) but otherwise free-ranging colony on Gibraltar.

HABITAT

Deciduous mixed oak and cedar forests with a pronounced dry season.

BEHAVIOR

Diurnal and predominantly terrestrial when moving and feeding. Typically sleep in trees at night. Live in moderate-sized multimale social groups that undergo fission when they become too large. Mating is promiscuous and paternity is widespread among group males. Infant carriage by males is particularly prevalent.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Feed predominantly on the ground but sometimes in trees, eating acorns in addition to cones, needles and bark of cedar trees. Also eat mushrooms and bulbs dug from the ground, along with various invertebrates (particularly insects and scorpions) and occasionally other animal prey.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Polygamous and promiscuous. Single births are typical, although twinning occurs very occasionally. Females have a prominent sexual swelling, but this is often gray-red rather than bright red when maximally inflated. Gestation period 164 days.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Listed as Vulnerable.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

Barbary macaques are regarded as pests in Morocco because they eat the growing tips of trees.

 

Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvana).
(click to enlarge)
Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvana). (credit: Tom McHugh/Photo Researchers)
Tailless, terrestrial monkey (Macaca sylvana) found in groups in Algeria and Morocco and on the Rock of Gibraltar. It is about 24 in. (60 cm) long and has yellowish brown fur and a bald, pale pink face. Lacking a tail, this macaque has often been incorrectly called an ape. It is the only wild monkey in Europe and may have arrived in medieval times, taken westward during the Muslim Arab territorial expansion. According to legend, British dominion over Gibraltar will end when the Barbary macaque departs.

For more information on Barbary macaque, visit Britannica.com.

 
WordNet: Barbary ape
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: tailless macaque of rocky cliffs and forests of northwestern Africa and Gibraltar
  Synonym: Macaca sylvana


 
Wikipedia: Barbary Macaque
Barbary Macaque
Barbary_macaque.jpg
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Cercopithecidae
Genus: Macaca
Species: M. sylvanus
Binomial name
Macaca sylvanus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus) is a tail-less macaque. Found in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco with a small, possibly introduced, population in Gibraltar, the Barbary Macaque is one of the best-known Old World monkey species. Besides humans, they are the only primates that live freely in Europe. Although the species is commonly referred to as the "Barbary Ape", the Barbary Macaque is a true monkey, not an ape. Confusion as to the name could have arisen from the fact that apes are tailless, as is the Barbary Macaque.

Appearance

This monkey is yellowish-brown to grey with lighter undersides, growing to a maximum size of 75 cm (30 in) and 13 kg (29 lb). Its face is a dark pink and its tail is vestigial. The front limbs of this monkey are longer than its hind limbs. Females are somewhat smaller than males.

Ecology

Dwelling in forests of cedar, pine and oak, the Barbary Macaque may frequent elevations of 2,100 m (6,900 ft) or more. It is a diurnal animal, dividing its time more or less equally between arboreal and terrestrial territory. Mostly herbivorous, this monkey feeds on leaves, roots, and fruit, but will also eat insects. By day, the Barbary Macaque patrols a territory which may span several square kilometers; it peacefully co-exists with other primate species, sharing watering holes without incident. The Barbary Macaque moves about energetically on all fours, occasionally rising erect on its hind limbs to survey for threats.

The Barbary Macaque is a gregarious monkey, forming mixed groups of several females and males; the troop of 10 to 30 individuals is matriarchal, with its hierarchy determined by lineage to the lead female. Unlike other macaques, the males participate in rearing the young; much time is spent playing and grooming with them. In this way, a strong social bond is formed between a male and his offspring, both the male's own and those of others in the troop. This may be a result of selectiveness on the part of the females, who seem to prefer highly parental males.

Female Barbary macacque with young suckling at Mediterranean Steps, Gibraltar.
Enlarge
Female Barbary macacque with young suckling at Mediterranean Steps, Gibraltar.

The mating season runs from November through March. After a gestation period of 147 to 192 days, typically one baby per female is born; twins are a rarity. The monkeys reach maturity at 3 to 4 years of age, and may live for 20 years or more.

Status

The habitat of the Barbary Macaque is under threat from increased logging activity; they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. Local farmers see the monkeys as pests worthy of extermination. Once common throughout northern Africa and southern Europe, there are estimated to be just 1,200 to 2,000 Barbary Macaques left.

Human use

Many of the mistaken ideas about human physiology contained in the writings of Galen are apparently due to his use of these animals, the anthropoid available to him, in dissections. Strong cultural taboos of his era prevented his performing any actual dissections of human cadavers, even in his role as physician and teacher of physicians.

Gibraltar population

The last wild population in Europe is that of Gibraltar, which unlike that of North Africa is thriving. At present there are some 230 animals in five troops occupying the area of the Upper Rock, though occasional forays into the town result in monkey mayhem.

References

External links

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Animal Encyclopedia. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Barbary Macaque" Read more

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