Monkey

Photo by Fadzil Hisham

This monkey is known as crab-eating macaque or cynomolgus monkey. They can easily be found in Southeast Asian countries. In Indonesia and Malaysia, they are known generically as kera, monyet or beruk.

The monkey has a long history alongside humans. They have been alternately seen as agricultural pests, sacred animals in some temples, and more recently, the subject of medical experiments.

They are opportunistic omnivores and have been documented using tools to obtain food in Thailand and Myanmar. The crab-eating macaque is a known invasive species and a threat to biodiversity in several locations, including Hong Kong and western New Guinea. The significant overlap in macaque and human living space has resulted in greater habitat loss, synanthropic living, and inter- and intraspecies conflicts over resources.