A gorgeous silver mane. And a tail ending in a tuft of black hair that resembles a lion’s. The lion-tailed macaque a.k.a. the wanderoo is an attractive monkey that’s found exclusively in the Western Ghats of India. Sitting pretty in the upper canopies of rainforests with shiny black coats, hairless faces, and shades of amber in their eyes, these majestic primates live in groups of 4 to 30. Females and young ones tend to form groups, with up to three males, while most males live in bachelor groups. They spend most of their time in the trees and climb high up into the canopy to sleep together in huddled groups at night.
Not only is the silvery-grey mane and a tail like a lion, this primate sometimes bares its teeth and appears to roar like one too.
Wanderoos mostly eat fruit, seeds, and leaves, but also insects, tree frogs, bird’s eggs, nestlings and the occasional squirrel. They can adapt to their surroundings and include flowers and fungi in their diet. They have large canines which are used to assert dominance, but also to tear open large fruit like the jackfruit. Like other monkeys, they have distensible cheek pouches where they accumulate large amounts of food. But, unlike other macaques, lion-tailed macaques tend to avoid humans as much as they can.
Though lion-tailed macaques generally eat indigenous jungle fruits, they also love cultivated fruits like guavas and jackfruit.
Increased cultivation of the Western Ghats for crops like tea, coffee, and spices, coupled with the rising number of human settlements has dramatically reduced the habitat of these rare primates, causing a severe depletion in their numbers. They are now an endangered species with less than 4,000 left in the wild. Besides habitat loss, another reason why their population has not bounced back is because a lion-tailed macaque female gives birth only once in three years, and it is estimated that her first birth does not occur before the age of 5 years. When females are ready to mate, they develop a small swelling under their tails that the males look out for. Gestation is six months, after which the youngster is nursed and carried by the mother on her abdomen.
Baby lion-tailed macaques, born with a soft, black coat, are constantly carried by their mothers until they are weaned when close to a year-old.
SPOT THEM:
Lion-tailed macaques are known to thrive in the Sirsi-Honnavara rainforests of the northern Western Ghats in Karnataka. Travel to Karnataka’s Sharavati Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary and Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary to see them. The forests of Kerala host over a thousand lion-tailed macaques. The largest numbers are in the Silent Valley National Park, but they are also seen in Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Pampadum Shola National Park, and Periyar National Park. In Tamil Nadu, the Anaimalai Hills, particularly the Annamalai Tiger Reserve supports these primates.
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