Trivia question for Sep-11-2011

Carter picked these cool primates for his trivia today, lets see how you do.  These monkey’s gather in large troops based around a core of closely related females.  These guys are not shy of humans and often takes advantage of the food left out by monks in remote temples.

These primates live in a variety of habitats. It inhabits sub-tropical forests in the southern part of its range and sub-arctic forests in mountainous areas in the northern part of its range. It can be found in both warm and cool forests, though usually between those extremes.

In 1972, a troop of about 150 of these monkey’s were relocated from Kyoto to a primate observatory in southwest Texas. The observatory is an enclosed ranch-style environment and they have been allowed to roam with minimal human interference. At first many perished in the unfamiliar habitat, which consists of arid brush-land. The monkey’s eventually adapted to the environment, and learned to forage for mesquite beans, cactus fruits, and other foods. The monkey’s flourished and by 1995, the troop consisted of 500 to 600 individuals. In 1996, hunters maimed or killed four escaped monkey’s, and as a result, legal restrictions were publicly clarified and funds were raised to establish a new 186 acres sanctuary near Dilley, Texas.

So here are Carter’s questions: Tell us what this primate is and name the 3-main islands they can be found on?  Also, tell us what strange thing that the females of this species does to wild deer?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations goes out to our friend and long time supporter of OMG Jenny Essler from Atlanta GA. The cute monkey we featured is the Japanese Macaque. The Japanese macaque, also known as the snow monkey, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species native to Japan, although an introduced free-ranging population has been living near Laredo, Texas since 1972. It is the most northern-living as well as the most polar-living primate other than humans. In Japan, it was historically known as saru (“monkey”). Individuals have brown-gray fur, a red face, and a short tail.

3 of the 4 Japanese islands that are known to have these monkey’s are Shikoku, Kyushu, Honshu. Female macaques have actually been seen grooming wild deer. Another interesting fact (from our friend Jenny) is that these macaques, in the northern arctic areas of their habitat, tend to hang out in hot springs to keep warm, as is seen in our picture above.   Here is more on these smart primates: Japanese Macaque

Thanks for playing along 😉