Arunachal Macaque

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Arunachal Macaque (Macaca munzala) | Tawang, Nov 2018

This is a species that is presently known to be restricted to a few small populations, in a very small high elevation pocket of Arunachal and Bhutan.

For a mammal, this species was formally described quite recently, and unusually, it was described based on good quality photographs, not a specimen. It is identifiable by its tail length, dark tones on the fur (though somewhat variable), and a few very distinct features around the face (including a dark streak on the crown, and very prominent dark lines running sideways from the eyes to the temples).

"Munzala" means "deep forest monkey" in the Monpa language of the region. Although they do inhabit forests and are more shy than other macaques, they also stray close to human habitation for food - sadly, to hillside garbage dumps as well. This one was foraging on a man-made lawn at the edge of a scrub & rhododendron forest, I'm not sure what exactly it was eating. I took only a few photos, as this troop was socialising a lot and I did not want to intrude too much.

Canon 760D, Canon 100-400mm L IS USM (at 285mm)
SS 1/800
Av 5.6
ISO 800

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice sighting.The tail is short. Facial details nicely captured. Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Mrudul Godbole]

All the distinguishing features are well documented in this image. Its short tail reminds me of the Lion Tailed Macaques in Valparai. Its sad to know this species is also reduced to scavenging the garbage to find food . Nicely captured. How long was your trip to Arunachal? Thanks for sharing the detailed information.

[Prashant Gandhi]

Great shot Abhishek! Thank you for sharing its details. Nicely captured. Keep it up.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Great to see this species. What was the size of the troop? Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Sabyasachi - I think I wasn't able to see all of them, but I guess it was a troop of 15-20. There were multiple adult males in the troop.

Mrudul - Quite a short trip, 3 days in the vicinity of Tawang and a few days in the road travel.

[Disha Parchani]

Nicely captured! Very well. Keep it up.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Seeing this species for the first time from the hills of Arunachal, Abhishek. The animal has tinges of red and brown and is significantly darker than its cousins in other part of the country. Thanks for sharing.

[Samrat Sarkar]

Very rare species. thanks for sharing.