Sri Lanka: The Land and Its Macaques

by Ruchira Somaweera
Ms Somaweera studies Biology at Trinity College, Kandy, Sri Lanka
August 2001

Sri Lanka (known as "Ceylon" in the past) is located in the heart of the Indian Ocean. The nation is ranked among the highest in Asia in terms of biodiversity.

It is famous worldwide for its incomparable scenery and wildlife, and also for its rich cultural heritage.

Sri Lanka, a small humid tropical island covers 65,000 square kilometers (25,000 square miles). It lies in the monsoon region of South Asia. The island's mammals include 86 indigenous and ten introduced species. There are four primate species. Two of them live nowhere else in the world.

Sri Lankan Primates

Sri Lanka is essentially a forest country and there are many monkey troops. Three species of Old World monkeys and the slender loris are found in the country. The monkeys are the toque monkey and the purple-faced leaf monkey, both found only on the island, and the grey langur.

The Toque Monkey

The toque monkey, a member of the macaque family, lives only in Sri Lanka and is widely distributed. There are three subspecies with only small differences in appearance. These monkeys are medium sized and sturdily built. They have stout rather short limbs and long tails. Fully grown adult males can grow up to about 50 centimeters (20 inches), while females are smaller.

Two young toque monkeys Photo: Samitha Harischandra

Toque monkeys vary in color. Usually monkeys' backs are a dusky reddish brown, as are the outer limbs. The front of the body is lighter in color.

The toque macaques of Sri Lanka eat a varied diet, including fruits, seeds, flowers, berries, shoots and small animals like crickets, spiders and sometimes even eggs. Using both hands, they cram their food into their mouths until their cheek pouches are full. They can chew their food later.

Wild Sri Lankan macaques live in troops. A troop can number up to about 20 members, of both sexes and all ages and sizes. A troop has its own territory and a large fully grown male leads and protects the troop. He has power over his entire harem and the other males.

Sri Lanka

Nearly 18 million humans live on the small island. There are about 275 people per square kilometer. Sri Lanka's overall population density is comparatively high for an agricultural nation. This means that Sri Lanka's remaining forests are under siege.

Much of Sri Lanka's biodiversity has already been lost as a result of high levels of deforestation, land degradation and unregulated exploitation of resources.

Deforestation, fueled by logging and slash and burn farming, is the greatest threat facing all the wildlife in the country, including the toque monkey.

The rate of deforestation has been so drastic that only about 20% of the original forest cover remains today.

Because of recent deforestation and habitat fragmentation, toque monkey troops have adopted an unusual life style.

Driven away from their natural habitats by sprawling urbanization and cultivation, they have become used to searching for food on the outskirts of cities and cultivated lands.

These monkeys have long lost their ancestral fear for humans, and are not shy of penetrating further into cities, raiding the neighboring cultivated lands, and breaking into houses. This proximity to humans has exposed these animals to contagious human diseases, against which they may not have resistance.

Although toque monkeys are shy in the wild, they can become very trusting and tame when habituated.

Unfortunately a few "Snake Men" and villagers in Sri Lanka catch them to keep as pets. However, they are not captured for laboratory experiments.

Macaques often get killed when crossing roads in towns or during troop movements across roads, which have fragmented the home range of wild macaques.

Large scale hydroelectric dam projects adversely affect several important wildlife habitats and pose another serious threat to primates and other animal species.

The preparation of a list of nationally threatened species by IUCN-Sri Lanka, is an initiative to help promote protection of the country's natural resources. The toque monkey is not currently listed as threatened in the IUCN Red Book of Threatened Species, even though the species is vulnerable to extinction. Further, the toque monkey is not protected by Sri Lankan law.

Ultimately it appears that successful conservation of primates in the country will have to depend largely on education.

Without good outreach work which encourages the full participation of local residents in implementation and maintenance of conservation plans in their areas, prospects for the protection of many of the primates and other wildlife species in Sri Lanka are bleak.