Lion-tailed macaque

사자꼬리원숭이

A black monkey found only in the rainforests of the Western Ghats in India. The silvery mane around its face and the tufted tail tip give it its name. It is endangered because its forest home keeps shrinking.

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At a glance

Class: Mammals
Lives in: Western Ghats, southwestern India
Diet: Eats both plants and meat (omnivore)
Conservation status: Endangered (IUCN EN)
Habitat: rainforests

Quick answers

Where does the Lion-tailed macaque live?

It lives in rainforests. On the globe you can find it near Western Ghats, southwestern India.

What does the Lion-tailed macaque eat?

Its diet: eats both plants and meat (omnivore).

Is the Lion-tailed macaque endangered?

It is listed as Endangered (IUCN EN).

The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) is an Old World monkey found only in the Western Ghats of southern India. It is covered in black fur and has a striking gray or silver mane around its face, which is hairless and black in adults. People sometimes call it the wanderoo.

Surprisingly, its name comes from its tail, not its mane. The tail is long and thin with a lion-like tuft at the tip. This is one of the smaller macaques, with a head-and-body length of 42 to 61 centimetres and a weight of 2 to 10 kilograms. It is endangered because its forest home keeps shrinking.

Life in the rainforest canopy

The lion-tailed macaque is a rainforest dweller, often found in the upper canopy of evergreen forests. It is active only in the daytime and spends about half the day searching for food and the other half resting or finding new places to eat.

Like other macaques it has deep cheek pouches for storing food. It lives in groups of usually 10 to 20 members, with many females and only one to three males.

Talking without words

Lion-tailed macaques defend their area with loud cries and bared teeth. Other signals include lip-smacking as a friendly greeting, branch shaking to scare off rivals and yawning with a grimace to show dominance.

They try to avoid people more than other macaques do, but losing forest has brought more contact and conflict with humans.

Fun facts

It has a silver-white mane around its black face and a tufted tail like a lion's.
It is named for its tail tuft, not its mane.
Baby macaques have a pinkish face, and the mane grows in about two months after birth.
Its German name Bartaffe means beard ape.
It lives only in the Western Ghats of South India.