The Crab-eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) is an arborealmacaque native to South-East Asia. It is also called the Cynomolgus Monkey or Long-tailed Macaque.
It is found throughout most of South-East Asia, including the islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, as well as in the country of the Philippines. These monkeys are often unafraid of humans, and are found in many cities and villages. A population of Crab-eating Macaques, fed by locals, lives in the middle of the city of Lopburi in Thailand.
Crab-eating Macaques are born with black fur, but the fur turns to a yellow-green, grey-green, or reddish-brown shade as they grow. They have dark snouts, and bluish abdominal skin. They live in groups of between 20 to 60 individuals. Generally there are about 2.5 adult females for every adult male. They live for about four years in the wild, but in captivity have been known to live for up to 38 years.
There is some significant diversity within the species and these differences are classified into 10 subspecies:
Monkeys range in size from the Pygmy Marmoset, at 14-16 cm (5-6 inch) long (plus tail) and 120-140 g (4-5 oz) in weight, to the male Mandrill, almost 1 metre (3 ft) long and weighing 35 kg (75 lb).
While baby monkeys are usually as easy to keep clean as a human infant (by diapering), monkeys that have reached puberty usually remove their diapers and cannot be toilet trained.
The Monkey is the ninth in the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.