Macaque Quiz
There are 23 species of macaque, including the species we have living at Trentham Monkey Forest, Barbary macaques. Barbary macaques are unique in that they originate from Africa; whereas, the other 22 species all originate from Asia.
They range from the more well-known such as the rhesus macaque and the Japanese macaque (they’re the ones who love to bathe in hot springs) to the much less well known and rarer Pagai Island macaque and the toque macaque.
I have to admit, I’d find it extremely difficult to identify all of the macaque species; however, the way a few are named can make it a little easier. Why not have a go at guessing which images below relate to these name (answers are further down the blog post).
- Crab-eating macaque
- Lion-tailed macaque
- White-cheek macaque
- Black-crested macaque
- Northern pig-tailed macaque
Unfortunately, of the 23-macaque species, 15 are currently threatened with extinction, with the newest member of the group, the white-cheeked macaque yet to be assessed, having only been discovered in 2015. This is the reason the photo above is quite fuzzy, there are only about 500 of them estimated in the wild, and most of the photos are from camera traps.
Ben Coleman – Scientific Officer