The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma/Mammalia/Class Mammalia/Subclass Eutheria/Order Primates/Suborder Anthropoidea/Family Cercopithecidæ/Subfamily Cercopithecinæ/Genus Macacus/Macacus nemestrinus
8. Macacus nemestrinus. The pig-tailed Monkey.
- Simia nemestrina, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 35 (1766).
- Inuus nemestrinus, Blyth, Cat. p. 7.
- Macacus nemestrinus, Anderson, An. Zool. Res. p. 77; id. Cat. p. 72.
Myouk-padi, Burmese; Ta-o-ti, Burmese of Tavoy; Bruh, Malay.
Body stout; limbs long and powerful; muzzle in adults much produced. Fur slightly lengthened over shoulders, and short generally. Hair radiating in centre of crown, but not surrounded by the distinct horseshoe-crest of M. leoninus (there is, however, an approximation to it in some specimens). Tail very slender, rather more than one third the length of the head and body. Caudal vertebræ 18.
The muzzle, in old male skulls especially, is greatly produced, and much resembles that of the Baboons (Cynocephalus) in form. The orbits are nearly as high as broad.
Colour. Crown of the head dark brown or black, except at the sides; a broad black stripe extends throughout the middle of the back in many specimens, becoming broader on the rump; but in young animals and in some adults the back is brown throughout. Fur of upper surface generally yellowish brown, but varying from pale orange-brown to blackish brown in different specimens; lower parts greyer brown or albescent; hands and feet sometimes darker than the limbs. Tail black above, light yellowish brown below. The fur on the upper parts and the outside of the limbs is closely annulated with yellow and brown; basal portion of hair grey.
Dimensions. Tickell gives as the measurements of an old male from Yé:—Head and body 18¼ inches, tail 7¾, hand 3¾, foot 6, height at shoulder 16; the size, however, varies much, and many individuals attain a much greater development, rivalling, as Anderson remarks, a good-sized mastiff both in height and strength. Of two skulls of adult males in the British Museum one measures 6·5 inches long from the occiput and 5 from the foramen, by 4·2 broad across the zygomatic arches: whilst another male adult skull is only 5·78 and 4·4 long and 3·8 broad; and a third from Mergui 5, 3·6, and 3·5. Females must be very nearly as large as males; the skull of a very old specimen from Tenasserim is 6·2 and 4·2 inches long and 4·25 broad. It is just possible that two distinguishable forms, a larger and a smaller, are indicated by these measurements.
Distribution. The pig-tailed Monkey is found throughout a great part of Tenasserim, although apparently not common, except in the extreme south of the province—a circumstance that probably explains why the occurrence of M. nemestrinus in Southern Burma has been generally overlooked. There is, however, a skeleton in the British Museum (the old female of which the skull-measurements are given above) sent by Major Bingham from Meplay valley, Thoungyeen river, and a skull presented by Dr. Oldham from Mergui. Tickell, too, in his MS. notes, records and describes specimens from Yé; and Mr. W. Davison tells me that the species is common about Malewani and Bankasun. The pig-tailed Monkey is not found north of Tenasserim, but extends south into the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo.
Habits. The pig-tailed Monkey in Tenasserim, according to Tickell, frequents thick jungle about the base of the hills. The voice and manners are similar to those of M. rhesus. When the animal is excited the tail is held in the form of an S. In Sumatra M. nemestrinus is said by Sir S. Raffles to be peculiarly docile, and to be trained to climb the cocoa-nut trees and gather nuts for its master. This can only apply to females and young animals; old males are very savage, and they are formidable animals from their size and strength.
The period of gestation in this species has been ascertained to be 7 months and 20 days.