Macaca nigrescens

Habitat. Lowland and montane rainforests up to elevations of 2000 m.

Sumber: Cercopithecidae

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Gorontalo Macaques live in multimale — multifemale, female philopatric groups, which are believed to be smaller than those of Crested Macaques. Nevertheless, because no research has been conducted on totally habituated individuals, the reliability of group counts can be questioned. The only long-term study carried out on semi-habituated animals found a mean group size of 14 individuals, but up to 65 individuals were occasionally counted in a single group, with an adult male to adult female sex ratio of 1: 1 - 7. Group sizes may have been underestimated because of group members being spread out in the dense forest. As in Crested Macaques, emigrating males often travel alone. Gorontalo Macaques are expected to be as socially tolerant as other, better studied, Sulawesi macaques, but evidence is still lacking. Agonistic behaviors appear to occur frequently, but with short duration. The severity and directionality of aggression and the frequency of reconciliation, however, remain unclear.

Sumber: Cercopithecidae

Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Classified as Vulnerable on The IUCN Red List. The Gorontalo Macaqueis fully protected by Indonesian Law. Although the majority ofits distribution lies within a protected area, Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park, the population has declined in recent decades. The reason for the decline is conversion of accessible lowland rainforests, outside and in protected areas, into agricultural land and plantations. One of the affected areas is the former studysite of Kohlhaas, which has now been completely logged. There is also severe illegal hunting (market and subsistence) where macaques are not covered by a food taboo. The majority of Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park is inhabited by people of Muslim belief, and its center consists of massive, steep mountain ranges that are difficult to reach. In combination, this protects part of the population of Gorontalo Macaques relatively well. Whether Gorontalo Macaques still meet and hybridize with Heck’s Macaques (M. hecki) and Crested Macaques remains unclear but is doubtful at least for Heck’s Macaque.

Sumber: Cercopithecidae

Descriptive notes. Head — body ¢. 60 cm (males) and ¢. 50 cm (females), tail c. 2 - 5 cm; no specific data available for body weight. Pelage of young Gorontalo Macaquesis pale brown with blackish vertex, forearms, hands, and feet. It darkens with age into dark reddish-brown to blackish, with a black median streak on the lower back. As in the Crested Macaque (M. nigra), hairs of the vertex are elongated to an erectile crest. This crest is lacking in very young individuals, but grows with age. In adults, the crestis still slightly shorter (5 - 10 cm) than in the Crested Macaque. Ischial callosities are suboval to subreniform, dark orange to dark brown and without any internal subdivision.

Sumber: Cercopithecidae

Distribution. N Sulawesi, E of Gorontalo to Onggak Dumoga River in the N peninsula.

Sumber: Cercopithecidae

Conservation: CITES – Appendix II; IUCN – Lower Risk (conservation dependent).

Sumber: Order Primates