PRIMATES of SABAH
A story about the "Curious Furry Animal" in Gaya Island , Sabah
You might be wondering who is this curious furry animal that we are talking about? Well, it is not a bearded pig nor a pan-tailed squirrel. The curious furry animal in this story is actually the long-tailed macaque. Long-tailed macaque of which, is also locally known as “Kera” in the Malay language is one of the most abundance non-human primate species in the world. It lives in a wide range of habitat ranging from primary forest, secondary forest, coastal and mangrove forests. One of that place is in Gaya Island of Sabah.
How does a Long-tailed Macaque looks like?
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The long-tailed macaque can be easily recognized as it has extraordinary long tail that is found to be longer than their own height (from head to rump) as shown in Photo 1 and 2. Interesting isn’t? Apart from that, this species varies in color from light brown or grayish to brown fur covering their backs, legs, and arms. Meanwhile, their undersides are much lighter in color. The male long-tailed macaques have mustaches and cheek whiskers that frame their faces whereas the female long-tailed macaques have beards as well as cheek whiskers but no mustaches though.
Photo 1: A Long-tailed Macaque spotted sitting on a tree's branch
(Credits to : Mr. Nick Baker)
Photo 2: A group of Long-tailed Macaques found relaxing on a tree's branch
(Credits to : Mr. Nick Baker)
The interesting fact about Long-tailed Macaque
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Did you know that this species actually has cheek pouches in which, they can store food temporarily while they eat. Surprisingly, these pouches can store the same volume of food as their stomach too. How cool is that! Apart from that, it highly curious with its’ surrounding environment that sometime led to their mischievous acts such as checking and snatching belongings of the tourists such foods that were often seen in Gaya Island. The long-tailed macaque can be seen frequently visiting the substations’ area during the mid-day in Gaya Island. They usually will come in group but only a few that dare to come close to tourist spot while other is seen wandering around the nearby forest fringe.
Research and Conservation of Long-tailed Macaque
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This species often being claimed as one of the pest that caused damages and disturbances especially at tourism places of which, led to human-macaque conflict. However, without us realizing the facts that this species is also trying their best to survive to their modified habitat as a result from human development activities. Therefore, it shows the need to find better solution in solving this issue. Currently, there is still limited information that can assist us in understanding the behavior and social life of this species. Therefore, more active research and conservation works need to be done to solve this arising issue in Gaya Island. Hence, your support by donating to our organization will enable our team member to continuously conduct the research with the hope to find a better solution that can harmonize the human and long-tailed macaque in Gaya Island.
Article prepared by : Mr. Alton Jimat Embug
