Barbary macaque
| Barbary macaque | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg)
Barbary macaque with young animal |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Macaca sylvanus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The Barbary Macaque ( Macaca sylvanus ), also Magot called, is a Makakenart of the family Cercopithecidae . It is best known for being the only wild primate species in Europe besides humans .
description
Barbary macaques reach a head trunk length of 55 to 63 centimeters and a weight of 9.9 to 14.5 kilograms. Males are significantly heavier than females and have significantly longer canine teeth than females. The fur of these animals is uniformly yellowish-brown or gray-brown in color, the face is dark pink. Like all macaques, they have cheek pouches for stowing their food. Barbary macaques are tailless.
distribution and habitat
Barbary macaques are the only macaques that do not live in Asia , but in the Rif Mountains and the Middle Atlas in Morocco and in the large and small Kabylia in Algeria , at heights of 400 to 2300 meters above sea level, as well as on Gibraltar . However, the population there was introduced by humans. The habitat of these animals are oak , fir and cedar forests , with Atlas cedar , Spanish fir , Algerian oak , cork oak , Portuguese oak and holm oak as the dominant tree species. The barbary macaque also copes well with rocky, rugged terrain.
In the warm periods of the Middle and Old Pleistocene , the Barbary macaque also occurred in southern, western and central Europe. There are fossil records of the species from northern Italy, Sardinia, Germany, Croatia, Austria, western Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the bottom of the then still dry North Sea.
Way of life
Barbary macaques can climb well, but spend much of the day on the ground. Like all Old World monkeys , they are diurnal.
Like all macaques, they live in groups, the size of which is variable, the usual size being 12 to 88 animals. According to reports, groups split into smaller units when they get too big. Since the females remain in their birth group throughout their lives, a few closely related females usually form the core of the group. The males establish a hierarchy through fights, the strongest and most popular males become dominant and lead the group. Dominant males enjoy privileges in food and mating, but in principle every male can reproduce. They are territorial animals, the size of the territory is variable and depends, among other things, on the food supply and human disturbances.
food
Barbary macaques are omnivores, the fruits, seeds, leaves, herbs, buds, lichens, mushrooms and roots, but also occasionally insects (ants, beetles, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, termites, water striders ), bird eggs, worms, millipedes, or even spiders Consume scorpions. Foraging for food takes about a quarter of their active time. In the cooler winter months, bark and tree needles are an important part of the diet.
Reproduction
The females primarily mate with the higher-ranking males, although in many cases all males reproduce. There is no fixed mating season; this depends on the climatic conditions. After a gestation period of around 165 days, the female usually gives birth to a single young, but very rarely also twins. The newborns weigh around 500 grams and have thin, black fur that turns light brown within 4 months, until they have the color of the adults.
Due to the promiscuous mating behavior, the males also take care of the young. They groom their fur, carry them around and play with them without knowing whether they are actually the father.
The young animals are weaned after around six to twelve months. Females become sexually mature at 4 to 6 years of age and males at 5 to 8 years of age; the males have to leave their birth group at this point. Barbary macaques can live to be 20 to 30 years old. At Affenberg Salem in Germany, where 200 individuals in 3 clans and some of the females live with hormonal contraception, a life expectancy of 25 years for males and around 30 for females was observed.
Systematics
Written remarks about the Barbary apes were made by Egyptians , Phoenicians , Etruscans and Greeks (including Aristotle) in antiquity . Conrad Gessner mentioned the species in 1551 in the first volume of his Historia animalium ( Quadrupedes vivipares ). The Swedish natural scientist Carl von Linné , who created the basis of modern botanical and zoological taxonomy with the binary nomenclature , named the species in his Systema Naturæ in 1758 under the name Simia sylvanus and is therefore considered the author of the first description . The Barbary macaque was the first species to branch off the main line of development of the macaque and is therefore the basic sister species of all Asian species. No recent subspecies are distinguished within the species . Some macaque forms occurring in the Pliocene in Europe, however, are classified by some authors as subspecies of Macaca sylvanus . These are Macaca sylvanus florentina (late Pliocene, Southern and Central Europe), M. s. prisca (Middle Pliocene, Southern and Central Europe) and M. s. major (late Pliocene, Sardinia).
Barbary macaques and humans
North africa
According to an estimate from 2013, there are fewer than 7,000 animals in North Africa; the population continues to decline due to the destruction of their habitat. In Libya and Egypt they were already exterminated around 1800, today around 70% of all Barbary macaques live in Morocco. The IUCN lists them as "high risk" ( endangered ).
Gibraltar
Although fossil finds suggest that the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by Barbary macaques in prehistoric times, the current population on the Rock of Gibraltar is very likely due to the influence of humans and their travel behavior. An introduction is conceivable during the Arab rule in southern Spain between 711 and 1492; the first written reports date from 1704. As legend has it, Gibraltar remains in British hands as long as Barbary macaques live there and the population had sunk to a few animals in 1942, so Winston Churchill released some animals from Morocco on the peninsula. Genetic studies have shown that the current population can be traced back to two roots, one Algerian and one Moroccan. Today around 240 animals live in Gibraltar.
Outdoor enclosure in Europe
In 1969, the zoo was La Montagne des Singes in the municipality of Kintzheim in the region Alsace in France as a tourist attraction opened. The barbary macaques adapted quickly to the local climate and the many births ensured that more outdoor enclosures could soon be created according to the same concept, each of which houses around 150 to 250 animals:
- In 1974, the first offshoot was La Forêt des Singes near Rocamadour , in the French department Lot in the Midi-Pyrénées region .
- In 1976 the Affenberg Salem followed in the Lake Constance district , Germany .
- In 2005 the Trentham Monkey Forest was opened on the Trentham Estate in Staffordshire , England, between Liverpool and Manchester , with 150 animals from Kintzheim and Salem making up the initial population.
- Numerous other monkey enclosures based on the same model are available as individual attractions or as part of zoos across Europe
The winter break of several months (around mid-November to mid-March) is visitor-free and serves as a mating season.
literature
- Thomas Geissmann : Comparative Primatology. Springer-Verlag, Berlin et al. 2003, ISBN 3-540-43645-6 .
- Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold, Jan Kalina (Eds.): Mammals of Africa, Volume II: Primates. A&C Black, 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2257-0 .
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Elizabeth L. Gadsby, Colin P. Groves, Aoife Healy, K. Praveen Karanth, Sanjay Molur, Tilo Nadler, Matthew C. Richardson, Erin P. Riley, Anthony B. Rylands, Lori K. Sheeran , Nelson Ting, Janette Wallis, Siân S. Waters & Danielle J. Whittaker: Family Cercopithecidae (Old World Monkeys). Pages 550-753 (p. 629) in Russell A. Mittermeier , Anthony B. Rylands & Don E. Wilson : Handbook of the Mammals of the World: - Volume 3. Primates. Lynx Editions, 2013 ISBN 978-8496553897
- ↑ a b Kingdon, Happold et al. (2013), page 161.
- ↑ Fabio Bona, Luca Bellucci, Davide Casali, Paolo Schirolli, Raffaele Sardella: Macaca sylvanus Linnaeus 1758 from the Middle Pleistocene of Quecchia Quarry (Brescia, Northern Italy). Hystrix It. J. Mamm. 2016; 27 (2) DOI: 10.4404 / hystrix-27.2-11503
- ↑ Florian Anton Fladerer: Macaca (Cercopithecidae, Primates) in the Old Pleistocene of Deutsch-Altenburg, Lower Austria. Contribution Paleont. Austrian 13: 1-24, Vienna 1987, PDF
- ↑ JWF Reumer, Dick Mol, Ralf-Dietrich kahlke: First finds of Pleistocene Macaca sylvanus (Cercopithecidae, Primates) from the North Sea. Revue de Paleobiologie 37 (2): 555-560 January 2019, DOI: 10.5281 / zenodo.2545095
- ↑ Kingdon, Happold et al. (2013), page 159.
- ↑ Jing Li, Kyudong Han, Jinchuan Xing, Heui-Soo Kim, Jeffrey Rogers, Oliver A. Ryder, Todd Disotell, Bisong Yue and Mark A. Batzer: Phylogeny of the macaques (Cercopithecidae: Macaca ) based on Alu elements. Genes. 2009 Dec 15; 448 (2): 242-249. June 2009. doi: 10.1016 / j.gene.2009.05.013
- ^ Walter Carl Hartwig: The Primate Fossil Record (Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology, Volume 33). Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0521663151 , page 272
- ↑ Macaca sylvanus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Butynski et al , 2000. Retrieved on 11 May, 2006.
- ↑ Dominique Auzias, Jean-Paul Labourdette: Guide des parcs animaliers en France 2016/2017 . Petit Futé, May 18, 2016, ISBN 979-10-331-0353-0 , p. 203.
- ^ The Trentham Estate: Visit Monkey Forest and help protect the endangered Barbary macaque ; Retrieved July 12, 2016.
