©Joan Lansberry, July 2004

Volume four of The Life of Mammals by David Attenborough teaches much about the many varieties of monkeys. The social climber pictured above lives to 30 years, weighs from 5 to 12 lbs and dwells within a society with a clear hierarchy of dominance. They live in the lowlands and semi-deciduous forests of Sri Lanka. For food, they prefer fruit, nuts, seeds, flowers and invertebrates. The lucky male gets from two to three females. The gestation period for a baby is only 165 days and they weigh no more than a pound. Their main predator is dogs, which are abundant. In contrast, the Macaques are in a 'vulnerable' place as classfied by the 2000 IUCN Red List regarding species survival.