Lion king: north africa DLC

Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus)

Family: "Old-World" Monkey Family (Cercopithecidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Endangered

Distinguished from other macaques by their thick grey or brown fur and extremely short tails (which measure only around 2-3cm/0.7-1.9 inches in length, and are easily missed,) Barbary Macaques are native to cool, mountainous regions of Morocco and Algeria, but are also present as an invasive species on the European island of Gibraltar (making this species the only non-human primate living wild in Europe.) Favouring cedar forest habitats, members of this species live in large mixed-sex troops led by a dominant female; females inherit their rank from their mothers (with the largest, strongest daughter of the dominant female becoming the troop’s leader following her mother’s passing) while males form a separate hierarchy with larger, older individuals at the top. Barbary Macaques breed between November and December and are noted to be highly promiscuous, with both sexes seeking out several mates in a single season (so much so that in small troops it is possible that every unrelated adult in the group will eventually mate with one another,) and when females give birth in the following spring every member of the group, including males and females that did not mate in the previous season, will contribute to carrying, feeding, teaching and protecting the young - male parental care is rare in other macaque species, but it has been suggested that, as male Barbary Macaques have no way of knowing which, if any, of the young born each year are theirs they become invested in the wellbeing of all of them (studies into interactions between males and infants suggests that they may even have “favourite children”, which they play with more often than other infants in the troop.) Like other macaques, Barbary Macaques are diurnal and spend much of the day foraging on the ground, feeding on nuts, fruits, roots, mushrooms, insects and small vertebrates such as frogs; when foraging they frantically stuff food into pouches in their cheeks to be swallowed later while at least one member of the troop remains on “sentry duty” surveying their surroundings and releasing a harsh alarm call at the first sign of predators (such as Golden Jackals or large birds-of-prey,) encouraging their troop-mates to take cover in the lower canopy of nearby trees.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/43452-Macaca-sylvanus

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Yilda the barbary macaque relaxing luxuriously at Monkey Haven

One of Gibraltar's famous residents, the Barbary macaque.

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Barbary macaque (Second image is cropped)

Barbary macaque

Although the species is commonly referred to as the "Barbary ape", the Barbary macaque is actually a true monkey. Its name refers to the Barbary Coast of Northwest Africa.

Photo by Muttball in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

Yilda from Monkey Haven (UK) is 13 years old today, have some macaque memes to celebrate 🥳

Barbary macaque By: Walter Sydney Berridge From: Brehms Tierleben 1922

The Quizzer Book of Knowledge: Nature. Written and edited by George Beal. 1978.

Internet Archive

Source details and larger version.

Dominic Sandbrook & Tom Holland discuss some of history’s most intriguing monkeys, apes (& Barbary apes). 7 March 2024.

Typically the Japanese macaque gets all the wintertime hype, but the barbary macaques of Trentham Monkey Forest are big fans of playing in the snow! These charismatic North African monkeys are the only macaque species that are not native to Asia, and before the ice age they populated Europe as far north as the British Isles and Germany.

2023-05-29