In the last 5 years, it has become very popular to keep a Javanese monkey or otherwise a crab-eating macaque in the house as a pet. The reasons why this animal is especially popular are quite logical. Crab-eating macaques are relatively inexpensive, smart, easy to train, very calm animals. Today they can often be found performing in the circus, kept in zoos, and even living with inveterate exotic lovers in the homes. Javanese macaques are very friendly, showing warm feelings towards kittens, rabbits and other small animal species. In captivity, the life cycle of Javanese monkeys reaches a maximum of 36 years.
What kind of animal is this Javanese monkey?
Javanese macaque is a medium-sized animal of the marmoset family. The body length of an adult is from 40 to 65 cm. The mass of macaques is also small. The crabeater (photos are given in the article) weighs from 4 to eight and a half kilograms, while the weight of the female is from two and a half to 3.8kg.
The animal has expressive brown button eyes, a long tail of about half a meter and short limbs. The body of an adult animal is covered with gray hair with a greenish tint, its head is decorated with a charming dark tuft. On the muzzle, which is practically not covered with hair, a mature individual necessarily has a light mustache, beard and sideburns. The adult male is also armed with large tusks and is capable of attacking and injuring.
Habitat of crabeater monkeys
The animal prefers to live in trees and settle along water bodies, for example, not far from the mouth of a river or the coast of a sea arm. Although the Javanese macaque, otherwise the long-tailed monkey spends most of its life moving through trees and vines, it is good at diving. Animals seek out crabs and other living creatures that live in the sea. That is why many people know them as crabeater monkeys. But not always she catches live crabs in the water. Often, the Javan macaque monkey kills them by aptly throwing stones from the shore. This is a very smart animal.
The habitat of Javan macaques is very wide. They acclimatized especially well in the equatorial forests of Malacca, Indochina, on the islands of Indonesia and in the expanses of East India (Burma, Siam, the islands of the Malay Archipelago). This type of monkey is also widely distributed in the expanses of South Asia and the Sunda Islands.
Amazing facts about the life of Javan macaques
The largest representative of the speciesis M. Nevestrina - Lapunder macaques. The animals of this subspecies prefer the forests of Sumatra and Malacca for living. They are strong, smart and often used as an additional, pre-trained and trained labor force in the harvest by local residents. A curious fact is that they bypass unripe coconuts, not paying attention to them. Local residents not only appreciate, but also love tamed animals, because they are easy to train, very executive and diligent. These are unpretentious, calm, loyal, loving creatures, able not only to be friends with other small animals, but also to care for, for example, even horses.
Another surprising phenomenon is that crabeater macaques are a rare species of land mammals that cross the Wallace Line. These animals with equal success live both in primary lowland forests, and in secondary, and in disturbed ones. They are perfectly acclimatized east of Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Indochina, the islands of the Philippine and Malay archipelagos.
Reproduction of long-tailed macaques in natural conditions
Reproduction of crabeater monkeys in the wild occurs continuously throughout the year. The maximum birth rate is observed in spring-early summer. But such a situation is observed only in a natural habitat for animals. Depending on climate change, the peak of fertility also changes. The pregnancy of a female Javanese monkey lasts 6 months, after which one cub is born.
Features of care during the breeding process of cynomolgus monkeys in captivity
Now in more detail about captive breeding of Javanese monkeys, which they endure is surprisingly easy. Provided that a couple of adults live in the house, the probability of the appearance of their cubs is incredibly high, even rather inevitable. In the period before and after childbirth, certain rules for caring for a woman in labor should be observed. The environment in the parents' cage should be calm and conducive to relaxation, all extraneous individuals of the species should be isolated so as not to tease the future mother and father. During childbirth, you need to be especially attentive to the female. In the cage where it is contained, there must be a vessel with clean boiled water. Believe me, watching the behavior of macaque parents, as well as the development and growth of their cub, is more than exciting.
Features of life in a group
In a free-living life, the usual number of individuals in a group of Javan macaques, related by family ties, is about 30. They spend most of their time in the trees in search of food. They rarely land on the ground. Usually the group consists of females and males (approximately 50 to 50). The group is controlled by a leader, from whom almost all, with rare exceptions, cubs are born. Reaching sexual maturity, males leave their families, subsequently forming new groups. Macaque girls traditionally inherit the position of their mothers, that is, exclusively matriarchy reigns in families.
Conditions for keeping the crabeater monkey in captivity
Today in the homes of exotic lovers oftenyou can meet such an animal as the Javanese macaque. Owner reviews indicate that long-tailed macaques are unpretentious, they easily acclimatize with human help to the equatorial climate. For example, the southern regions of Russia are great for keeping animals in garden enclosures equipped with insulated sheds. With a caring attitude, the monkey quickly gets used to the owner, is easily trained, becomes tame, and often shows tenderness and affection. The Javanese macaque is strongly attached to the owner, it is a very constant and loyal pet.
When it comes to hygiene and care, it takes a lot of time to teach a monkey, for example, to wear a diaper. But the result is worth it! Demonstrating new pet skills will bring many pleasant moments not only to its owner, but also to his friends.
Contain long-tailed macaques, unlike their monkey counterparts, should be in cages with thicker bars and additionally reinforced decorative elements inside the cage. The Javan macaque at home is a very sociable animal, representatives of the species love communication and games. Therefore, if you leave your pet alone for a long time without an exciting activity, Javan macaques (photos are present in the article) will be bored, sad and quickly fade away. To prevent this from happening, you can lay out small non-hazardous toys, wooden chocks, branches, germinated grains of barley, corn, wheat or oats, grasses in tufts of hay that cover the floor of the cage.
Also important is the fact that ifwhen communicating with a pet, take him in your arms more often and allow him to touch the owner’s hair, then he will be more trusting and making contact. And, therefore, it will be easier to train, it will be easier to absorb knowledge, training in this case will be a joy to him. And as you know, a gingerbread is always much more useful than a stick.
In the wild, crabeater monkeys lead a flock of life, so you should not leave the animal alone. When the monkey is not in a cage, it is recommended to put a diaper on her, not forgetting to first smear the ass under the diaper with cream. In addition, you should protect the monkey from drafts. These animals are very afraid of them. It is better to teach a pet to clothes from childhood, then when he reaches adulthood, he will perceive it as a given and a necessity.
It is very important to remember that living in the wild, wild animals obey a certain hierarchy, so do Javanese macaques. Domestic animals do not lose this behavior when living with a person. They strictly observe the hierarchy, so it is strongly not recommended to try to "raise" the pet's intelligence to the human, it is much more useful to communicate with him, "descending" to his level.
Optimal diet for cynomolgus monkey
The crab-eating monkey has well-developed cheek pouches, which the animal, like a hamster, stuffs with food. These animals are not predators, they usually feed on grass, leaves, flowers, nuts, young shoots and insects, like crabs, other crustaceans and snails. The usual place where animals stock up on food when they live onwill - rice plantations.
When keeping an animal in a cage, its main diet consists of the following products: vegetables, fruits, salad, bread and a variety of cereal cereals. At least twice a week, animals must be fed with cottage cheese and boiled meat. This will make the pet's diet complete, as it will introduce proteins into it.
A special delicacy for Javanese monkeys is flour worms, they also love milk in any form (porridges and soups boiled in milk).
Rosehip syrup, yeast, fish oil and other traditional vitamin-containing products of plant and animal origin will be useful for the animal in moderation. Twice or thrice a year, courses of taking vitamins should be carried out for the pet. For this, children's vitamin complexes are ideal. Twice during the year, you should also "treat" a captive Javanese monkey with probiotics. This should be done in courses (in autumn and spring) for a month.
Feeding crabeater monkeys and supplying them with vitamins should be done exactly in accordance with the advice of a veterinarian and livestock specialist. The diet directly depends not only on the time of year, but also on the physiological state of the animal (pregnancy, illness, lactation, breeding season, etc.).
Provided that animals are kept in a cage, the portion per one living soul is increased per each animal by 50%. This is due to the fact that during group coexistence, individuals approach food only in accordance with the hierarchy in the group. If the enclosure contains a mother withcubs, then the food is also given in a certain amount: the mother has a full portion, each of the cubs - 50% of the standard ration. Upon reaching the age of six months, each juvenile should be fed a full meal.
Reasons for listing Javanese monkeys in the Red Book
Every year the population of the countries of the Asian region is growing rapidly, which is directly the reason for the reduction in the natural habitat of many species of flora and fauna.
Given the peculiarities of the reproduction of crabeater monkeys (in her entire life, each female gives birth to only one cub), it is natural that with a reduction in the halo of their habitat, the total number of the population also decreases. In addition, in some countries, Javanese monkeys are considered to be pest animals, which leads to their targeted destruction. And some habitats of these funny animals are known for the fact that local residents eat them, and, accordingly, they are constantly actively catching them.
Based on the above facts, it is clear that the Javan macaque is in dire need of protection, so this species of mammal was listed in the Red Book.
