Indian Beret Macaque: A Primate Under Threat
At a time when most primates are threatened, some monkeys such as the rhesus macaque are having great success and have moved away from the danger of extinction. But paradoxically this has become a major threat to other species, such as the Indian cap macaque. Let’s find out why.
The Indian cap macaque is slowly disappearing
The Indian cap macaque is a primate endemic to southern India, where it inhabits much of the country’s forests, and has even been seen in some urban areas. However, while this species is not considered threatened, the truth is that it could be endangered. Human expansion plays a fundamental role, but a study also indicates the presence of the rhesus macaque, an aggressive and territorial neighbor, among the causes.
A group of researchers who have been studying populations of Indian beret macaques for 25 years has come to one conclusion: the number of specimens has dropped by nearly 50% in the past 15 years.
The reasons are mainly related to the action of man, but there is another factor that comes into play in this worrying disappearance: the presence of an unpleasant neighbor, as is the case of the rhesus macaque, a similar species that lives in the north. of India.
The rhesus macaque, an unstoppable expansion
Although most of their habitat is not shared, the truth is that these primates coexist in some areas of India. In these, it seems that the rhesus macaque is gradually replacing the Indian cap macaque, because it is larger and more aggressive, but in some areas it manages to monopolize resources.
Thus, in just 25 years, the decline of the Indian cap macaque has been accompanied not only by an increase in the number of specimens of the rhesus macaque: these animals have also expanded their distribution. This means that today they live in a habitat that was once exclusively intended for the Indian cap macaque.
Is the Indian Caped Macaque Threatened?
In another of these studies conducted in 2015 in India, researchers found that the Indian cap macaque had disappeared from many areas where this species was once abundant in the past. Rhesus macaques do not attack them directly, but this superiority allows them to accumulate resources, slowly causing the other weaker macaque to disappear.
This northern species has already demonstrated its enormous ability to expand and exploit resources, causing macaques in India to generate a problem of coexistence with wildlife in cities.
In such a situation, this primate continues to disappear, also due to human expansion that causes the progressive fragmentation of its habitat. A striking case is the forests split in half by human infrastructure, a situation that the rhesus macaque seems to cope with better than its relative.
Animal rights activists are clamoring for conservation measures to be adopted for this species that is so important to us. Determining the number of Indian beret macaques that remain is crucial to knowing if they are really far from the threat of extinction or, conversely, are about to disappear in India.
