An interesting story of a Lion Tailed Macaque

[V S Sankar]

News spread about a Lion tailed macaque palying around with children near the Muthanga WLS in Wayanad district of Kerala.The animal has been around for a few days and the forest department came to know about it by then.

They informed the authorities in Trivandrum about the "Macaque" and a team of officials arrived at Muthanga to get a first hand information.Since they were only informed about a 'macaque' they were expecting to see a Hanuman Langur.

But lo and behold....What they saw was unbeievable.A beautiful female Lion tailed macaque which is seen only in the Silent Valley NP of Kerala.

How can it be around Muthanga and that also quite friendly and children too befriended it fast.

Anyway they captured the Lion tailed and started their journey to Trivandrum.On the route the officials realised that the animal is quite friendly and must have been living with some humans.

So far nobody has claimed the ownership(obviously as one is not supposed to keet it as a pet)

In any case the macaque is in a cage in the Trivandrum zoo!

The zoo authorities are very happy because they had 5 lion taileds with 2 females and 3 males.Now this friendly macaque has added to the gene pool of the zoo!

Regards

[Bibhav Behera]

Though this might sound jolly in some ways, its still isnt a good piece of news in my opinion as the poor (endangered) macaque ultimately ended up in a zoo (a prison so to speak). It could have been in the wild as well even if it was friendly with humans.

Our problem is that we consider that anything which is extraordinary should be put up in a showcase, which is what has happened here.

Hope some people stand up to this. Is there any official report on this? Please do share.

[Mrudul Godbole]

I agree, it been released in the wild would have been a better action taken by the Forest Department, than keeping it in the Zoo. Thanks for sharing this information. Do post any updates.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The problem is it is taken to the zoo. After that what? A life in prison. And people throwing peanuts at it. I don't know about this particular zoo, but I am yet to see a zoo where people don't misbehave with the animals or where animals are treated properly.

The zoos never try to make the animal ready to release it in the wild. Lion tailed macaques can be released into an area with abundant food trees for them to survive.