Information on Snow Monkeys
The snow monkey, whose scientific name is macaca fuscata, belongs to the class of mammalia and the order of primates. Snow monkeys are quick to learn new tasks and skills, and live in forest, mountain, and highland areas, mostly in Japan. Snow monkeys can also be referred to as Japanese macaques.
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Snow Monkey Identification
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Adult snow monkeys can be up to 30 inches in length from head to feet, and have up to a 6-inch tail. Their coats are thick and are typically brown, gray or mottled, and one of the most distinctive features of the snow monkey is its hairless red face.
What Snow Monkeys Eat
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Snow monkeys are omnivores, subsisting on a diet that includes small vertebrates, leaves, fruits, barks, seeds, insects and, on some occasions, agricultural crops.
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Snow Monkey Life Cycle
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Snow monkeys choose their mate not only by the rank and choice of the male, but also based upon the choice of the female. Though snow monkeys may have several mates throughout a breeding season, a female typically has only one baby at a time.
Snow monkeys have been known to live up to 30 years of age in a zoo setting, but their lifespan may be considerably less in the wild.
How Snow Monkeys Communicate
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With a wide variety of facial expressions and the ability to vocalize more than thirty distinctive sounds, snow monkeys implement many facets of communication with one another. Physical grooming is another way snow monkeys communicate.
Fun Facts About the Snow Monkey
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Snow monkeys live in troops, typically between 40 and 200 members per troop.
In Japan, snow monkeys are symbolic of good fortune.
Sometimes the female members of the troop will help raise the young of a fellow female troop member.
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