South India. The most curious facts about Indian animals Post about monkeys in India

Indian macaque (lat. Macaca radiata) is a small primate of the Monkey family (Cercopithecidae). His head is decorated with luxurious hair, resembling a dark hat. It is also called the bonnet macaque or zati. The animal is not afraid of humans and, due to the reduction of the natural habitat, willingly settles near villages and temples.

In many regions, it causes serious damage to farmers, destroying crops in fields and plantations. The monkey is easily tamed, has a relatively docile and curious character. It is often used for laboratory research, and in captivity it becomes strongly attached to its owner.

Spreading

The species is widely distributed in India. The largest populations live in the coastal regions of the states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Monkeys easily adapt to various landscapes, preferring wooded areas. In the north of the country, they settle in mountain forests at altitudes of about 2100 m above sea level. The lowlands are inhabited by primary and secondary forests, bush and savannas. In many cities of India they live by begging and stealing provisions.

To date, 2 subspecies are known - M.c. radiata and M.c. diluta. The second subspecies is found on the southeast coast of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It differs from the nominative subspecies in having a lighter belly.

Behavior

Indian macaques lead an active diurnal lifestyle, forming groups of an average number of about 30 individuals. Unlike many other primates, they do not have a clear hierarchical division during fur shedding. Even dominant males look for insects in the fur of their young compatriots with great pleasure.

Resting monkeys try to experience close physical contact with members of their own sex. Older animals show obvious concern for the younger ones, trying in every possible way to cheer them up, console and caress them. Young individuals love to scream loudly and imitate attacks on each other in a playful way. Dominant males take an active part in such games, even allowing babies and teenagers to bite themselves.

The home lots are very large. The area of ​​holdings of one group can reach 50 hectares. Primates usually stay in their territory for a long time and leave it only after a significant reduction in the food supply. The sites of different groups, as a rule, intersect, but the meeting of two clans does not lead to aggression. Monkeys also get along peacefully with langurs (Presbytis) and (Macaca Silenus).

Fruits occupy 47-53% of the total diet. In addition to them, the daily menu includes seeds, leaves and flowers of various plants.

Food of animal origin consists of insects, small lizards and frogs. Macaques especially like the fruits of caranga (Pongamia pinnata), fig tree (Ficus carica) and large grasshoppers (Tettigoniodea).

Animals are busy searching for food during daylight hours. In settlements, they willingly feed on the food waste of local residents.

reproduction

Sexual maturity in females occurs at the age of 3-4 years, and in males at 4-6 years. In the northern regions of the range, the mating season takes place in early spring, and in the rest all year round. The peak birth rate is observed from February to April. The fertility of females depends on the abundance of food and social status.

Pregnancy lasts from 155 to 165 days. The female brings only one baby. Fathers do not directly participate in the upbringing of their offspring and begin to show interest in them only after reaching adolescence. Cubs feed on mother's milk for 6-7 months.

Females give birth at intervals of 1-2 years and usually bring about 5 babies in total. Menopause occurs at age 27.

For the first six months, the cubs are inseparable from their mother, hanging on her back or paws. After the end of milk feeding, they learn to get their own food on their own, and in the second year they move on to an independent existence. Females stay with their closest relatives, while mature males join foreign clans.

Description

The length of the body and tail of adults is 40-50 cm. Weight 3000-6000 g. Females are smaller and lighter than males.

The color of the fur is brownish, yellowish brownish or olive brownish. The abdomen is lighter. The face is reddish or flesh-colored, devoid of hair. There is also no hair on the ears.

Cheek pouches allow you to store and carry food. Their volume is approximately equal to the volume of the stomach. On the head is a dark “cap” characteristic of this species. It is especially noticeable in mature males.

Under natural conditions, the life expectancy of Indian macaques rarely exceeds 18-19 years. In captivity, with good care, it increases to 30 years.

We continue, friends, acquaintance with the animal world of India. In this article, I want to tell you about another sacred animal of India, revered no less than the Cow - about the MONKEY.

In India, monkeys are considered sacred. According to an old legend, Hanuman (a monkey) stole delicious mangoes from the garden of a mythical giant and gave them to people. The monkey was caught and sentenced to be burned alive, but she managed to put out the fire and stay alive. When extinguishing the fire, she burned her face and hands, which remained black. This legend prompted the Indians to refer the monkey to a number of sacred animals, and even living gods. Entire temples are built for them, where they are revered and cherished. And the locals and peasants patiently endure all their pranks that these nimble animals do in gardens and plantations. It is forbidden to hunt monkeys, and the locals
The inhabitants open their houses wide open before them, and in the gardens they grow their favorite fruits.

According to the ancient Indian epic Ramayana, Hanuman, the son of a monkey and the wind god, helped the god Rama defeat enemies and return his wife Sita, who was kidnapped by the evil king of the island of Lanka, Ravana. Hanuman easily flies across the strait separating India from Ceylon, finds Sita hidden there and returns it to Rama. For his devotional service, Rama showered Hanuman with gifts and rewarded him with eternal youth.

There is another legend that the monkeys helped the god Vishnu. The inhabitants of the country were oppressed by a terrible giant, and Vishnu entered into a fight with him. But, one was unable to cope with the enemy, then he called for help the monkey people, and defeated the Giant. Also, therefore monkeys are sacred animals in India.

They also treat monkeys living in sacred temples with privileges. Many tourists love to feed the monkeys and take pictures with them. Animals are so accustomed to being fed by people that they brazenly beg people for food, and if they don’t get what they want, they become aggressive and may even bite. Monkeys have become so bold that they climb into houses, spoil things and food, and sometimes even steal small animals. In a year they eat so much food that this amount would be enough to feed 10% of the country's population, about 50 million people!!!

These are heat-loving animals, they live mainly in countries with a hot climate. In India, there are over 40 million individuals. Basically, these are macaques - rhesus.

These are thin-bodied monkeys, small in size, with a tail that is longer than its entire body. There is a brush at the end of the tail. A monkey with yellow-white fur and a black tuft pulled over his face in the form of a hood. Because of this black hood, the Indians consider the monkey sacred. The mass of these animals ranges from 2.5 to 8 kg. The ears and face are hairless. They feed on ripe fruits, leaves, insects, and do not disdain planting on agricultural plantations - cereals, rice, peanuts, coffee beans and coconuts. A family group of macaques can contain from 3 to 80 individuals!!! The hierarchy of relationships is based on maternal kinship. The herd is ruled by females who remain in the herd until old age. And the males, having reached puberty, are forced to leave the herd. Sexual maturity in monkeys occurs at 3-4 years, the pregnancy of females lasts about 180 days. As a rule, one, less often two cubs are born, which remain near the mother up to 1.5 - 2 years.

All monkeys are easily tamed. They live not only in zoos, they are even kept at home. Getting used to people, monkeys often adopt the habits of people and simply amaze with their intelligence and ability to imitate. Tamed trained monkeys often appear on television and act in films. Tamed monkeys are able to perform various tasks of people. In Thailand, for example, tame macaques have long helped people in the collection of coconuts, and even surpass people in this skill, because a person sometimes cannot distinguish a ripe nut from an unripe one, and monkeys do it unmistakably.

They can also provide serious services to scientists - botanists in the collection of herbariums in the tropics. Easily climbing the highest and thinnest branches of trees, the monkeys, at the command of a person, break off and bring him the necessary leaves, branches and flowers. The Singapore Botanic Gardens has a monkey nursery where several animals have acquired the profession of plant hunter. They are able to find rare plants in the impenetrable jungle if they are shown a branch or leaf of this plant.

And yet we should not forget that for all their intelligence and ability to imitate people, monkeys do not at all have the same consciousness as a person and are not able to think like a person. The basis of the mental activity of animals, their behavior, are, first of all, instincts, innate and conditioned reflexes.

The primitive thinking of animals with a high level of intelligence close to the human, including monkeys, is thinking with specific images, called pre-linguistic. For animals, signal stimuli that cause mental processes in the brain can only be direct stimuli - these are olfactory, visual, sound, gustatory and thermal effects.

That's how funny they are, monkeys. But, at the same time, smart, quick-witted and insightful.

It is not for nothing that they are considered SACRED ANIMALS OF INDIA.

I invite you friends to watch a wonderful cartoon in HD quality based on the ancient Indian epic Ramayana.

In India, many representatives of the fauna are surrounded by an aura of holiness, for example, cows, snakes, crocodiles living in ponds or reservoirs near temples. The differences in these cases are related to local traditions. Special attitude in India to monkeys. In this country, they have long been revered thanks to their ancient mythical leader Hanuman. It was he who at one time tied a torch to his tail to illuminate the battlefield and help King Rama defeat the evil demon Ravana.

In northern India, the attitude towards monkeys that fill groves and take over entire villages is twofold. The importunity of these animals, caused by their curiosity and thieving, sometimes reaches extreme, sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic tricks. Therefore, in everyday life, the divine halo of monkeys often goes out. They are often subjected to abuse and even beatings.

There are cases when voracious brown macaques, reaching the age of 18, raid apartments in the heart of New Delhi. For them, it costs nothing to climb the upper floors of multi-storey buildings and, taking advantage of the absence of the owners, destroy all stocks of food, including those stored in refrigerators. In Delhi, there are several million of these creatures, which are vindictive, capable of turning the life of the inhabitants of entire city blocks into a living hell at any moment. They say that macaques are feared even by officials of the Ministry of Defense, where they once visited and committed a complete pogrom in the meeting room.

In the city of Naggar, in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, a flock of monkeys periodically devastates the famous orchard around the museum-estate of the Roerich family, eating all the fruits, even unripe ones. The frightened inhabitants of this particular region decided that they had had enough and "took up knives", or rather scalpels, in order to sterilize the annoying male primates, having received the sanction of the Ministry of Health. The example of the Himachals was followed by the Delhi municipality, which ordered to catch these rapidly breeding mammals and take them to suburban reservations. True, this coercive measure has not yet led to the desired results. The monkey colony, accustomed to city comforts, is clearly not satisfied with the prospect of being in the jungle again.

Nothing is known about the exact number of monkeys living in Indian cities, but they can be seen almost everywhere, especially in areas dominated by Vaishnavism. Although macaques and their larger brethren are denied the protection afforded by sacred cows, the monkeys generally fare quite well, with many temples dedicated to them. In one of the temple complexes of New Delhi, at least a twenty-meter statue rises in honor of the Hindu hero Hanuman. And this means that this iconic place is visited by numerous pilgrims and monkeys will always find something to eat and entertain themselves, for example, posing for photographers or taking bananas from tourists.

In the Indian capital of Delhi, there are new guards of peace and life of citizens. These are tailed langur monkeys. No one but them can cope with macaques, which have recently been increasingly attacking people.

Religion forbids Hindus from harming these animals. But everything is in balance in nature, and it turned out that dangerous macaques are very afraid of long-tailed langurs and do not dare to approach them.

Elite suburb of New Delhi. Every day from 8 to 17 a security guard named Sunil works here. He walks around the district, menacingly raising a two-meter tail and sometimes exposing fangs. His partner Anish tells how these inhabitants of the Indian jungle - langurs - were called to the service.

“The authorities were looking for trainers for the captured monkeys. I trained him, we worked together and have been patrolling this territory for several years now - he drives the monkeys away from here, I drive the onlookers away from him,” says the trainer.

The guard langur appeared in the area after the most famous human-monkey fight in India. On a beautiful glass balcony, a respectable man in his fifties was reading a newspaper. Suddenly, a noise was heard, the owner was thrown from the second floor onto the asphalt, and he died on the way to the hospital. The newly elected vice-mayor of Delhi was killed, the attackers were macaques.

This tragedy showed that macaques are dangerous neighbors even for the most senior Indian. Now in the center of Delhi alone, the population of primates is about 20,000 animals - this is more than in many Indian national parks. Their native home, the jungle, is increasingly crowding the big cities, so the red-faced monkeys, as they are called here, go to these very big cities for food, and the Hindus cannot refuse them this.

Monkeys in India are considered the earthly incarnation of the god Hanuman, therefore they are no less sacred than, for example, cows. They cannot be driven out, beaten, and even more so killed, monkeys can only be appeased. For example, a banana. And how then to deal with their invasion? Force them to protect themselves, came up with Indian veterinarians. No kidding. We have to mix oral contraceptives in macaque food, fortunately, human ones are quite suitable.

But either due to the fact that hormonal drugs are expensive, or because not all of them reach the addressees, the program was quickly curtailed. The fertility of primates did not decrease at all - in Delhi they began to raid the Indian parliament and even visit the presidential palace, gnawing wires and rushing at officials. The Supreme Court stood up for civil servants and ordered the mayor's office to find a new solution.

“There are 200-300 monkeys in my area. And they already know my face. They see and run away. But I can’t relax and shut up even for a minute - they will attack. Therefore, every evening my voice sits,” says Mahendr Harisankar.

And in the tourist city of Agra, the monkeys turned everything upside down.

"We have a cage here. For people. Previously, there was none, and tourists came here in the afternoon heat and enjoyed the view of the Taj Mahal. Monkeys also came to steal food. Such meetings are a risk for the tourist. They often end in bites," he says restaurant owner Ankit Saraswat.

Indian doctors have found that monkeys can carry up to 40 infections. This rooftop restaurant, like many others in Agra, is empty - few people like the view of the Taj Mahal from behind bars. And the owner can only joke, they say, the macaques showed who is the boss here.

People who are not initiated into Hindu beliefs are usually extremely surprised to see how monkeys feel at ease in Indian bazaars. They climb everywhere, drag fruit and other food from the shelves, and no one drives them away - on the contrary, it seems that they are expected here as dear guests. Such honors are awarded to Hindus living in India and Sri Lanka, a monkey hanuman langur (Semnopithecus entellus). Some of them ravage fields and gardens, while others who live in temples are brought food by the locals themselves.

Hindus have every reason to revere monkeys: according to their ideas, the monkey god Hanuman miraculously saved the wife of the god Rama, Sita, from the encroachments of the demon Ramana. Rama is one of the supreme Indian gods, and Hanuman was honored to be his associate. Hanuman is also considered the patron of the arts and healing.

This deity is worshiped by millions of Hindus, and his images can be found in many Hindu dwellings. Temples are erected in honor of Hanuman - other pilgrims on the way to such a temple even try to imitate the behavior of monkeys, thereby showing the greatest respect to their idol. During religious festivities, bright, colorful processions of thousands of believers move through the streets, carrying images of the monkey god. The participants in the celebrations are seized with trembling excitement, and, as one of the witnesses of such a spectacle wrote, "no one refused to give alms to the numerous beggars sitting along the streets."

According to the ideas of the Hindus, the one who settles in the resting place of the monkey Hanuman will soon be overtaken by death. There are special "clairvoyants" who are invited to find out if the remains of a monkey are resting on a place chosen for building a house.

It goes without saying that among believing Hindus, insulting a sacred monkey is considered a grave sin, which some irresponsible people take advantage of, “inviting” monkeys to “annoy” an enemy or a quarrelsome neighbor. To this end, they pour rice on the roof of his house. The monkey instantly understands what's the matter, and climbs for a treat. And since rice grains inevitably roll under the tiles that cover the roof, the monkey breaks it off in search of a treat, thus causing decent damage to the objectionable. And try to touch her!

Monkeys of the genus Langurs ( Presbytis) are considered the fastest primates on earth, capable of running at speeds up to 40 kilometers per hour. They can also jump from one tree to another 15 meters away. When a baby is born to a monkey, the newly-minted mother is immediately surrounded by many females, obviously delighted with the addition to the family. The cub is strikingly different in color from the adult monkey. In these monkeys, there were cases of killing cubs when a strange male came to the place of the head of the family. Some scientists explain such cruel behavior by the fact that females who have lost offspring become more quickly ready for the resumption of sexual life, because they no longer need to feed the cub with milk. According to scientists, the male knows about this and destroys the offspring left by the previous father.

Another interesting monkey from the genus of langurs is the ordinary proboscis, or kahau ( Nasalis larvatus), found in the marshy forests of Borneo. Some biologists consider it the most extravagant of all monkey species. The male has an amazing nose, reaching 17 centimeters in length and hanging below the chin. Exact explanations for this miracle of nature have not yet been found, but it seems that the long nose serves as a resonator for the characteristic loud “call signs” reminiscent of “kahau” (hence the second name of the proboscis). And the locals call this monkey "blanda", as they called the first Dutch colonists.

Monkeys can also be found in some temples in Nepal, but here the Rhesus macaque is held in high esteem ( Macaca mulatta). Around other Hindu temples, whole crowds of these tailed creatures roam freely. They say that people settled sacred monkeys in temples two millennia ago - since then they have been living there, generation after generation. Currently, about 300 Rhesus monkeys permanently reside in the famous Pashupati Temple in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Do I need to explain how free life they lead in this sacred place for Hindus. What they just do not feed: and rice, and peanuts, and pumpkin! When they go out for a walk, people vying with each other offer them sweets. Sacred monkeys are under the reliable protection of Nepalese laws.

Rhesus macaques can also be seen in the Buddhist temple in Swayambhu - apparently, in ancient times, these animals came here from the forest, and when people fed them, they decided to stay here forever.