A glimpse into man’s origins with the intelligent Toque Monkey

Yala National Park

Lesser-known facts

The Toque Monkey is a very social species. They live in groups of about up to 40, and usually there are twice as many females than males in the group. You can see that there is a clear order of hierarchy of dominance in the group, with the deciding factors for that being age and sex. For example, the oldest males are at the top of the hierarchy, next being by the younger males, followed by the females whilst non-adult monkeys hold the lowest rank. However, a mother’s rank can affect the rank of their baby, which is accepted by the group.

Where to find them
The Toque Macaque, Macaca sinica - is a species of monkeys endemic to Sri Lanka, and can at times be found even in the southern tip of India. Sri Lanka is a country of several types of forest habitats - and the Toque Macaque can be found in almost all of them; including high and low altitude tropical forests, dry evergreen forests and wet lowland forests. The species of monkeys spends most of its time on trees and is very active during the day. 

Fun facts
The roles within the group are split based on gender - very similar to how humans function. Even amongst the Toque Monkeys, females are the ones who are seen to have complete responsibility for the infants and children, whilst males have very little to do with children. However, the male monkeys will break up any fight between younger members should they start one. 

A notable fact about the monkeys is that they all stay in groups and participate in social grooming. This helps keep them connected to their group’s members - which often result in them staying within the same group for life, however with the exception of a few young males who might switch over to a different group at some point during their young life.