Japanese Macaque
The Japanese Macaque , also known as the Snow Monkey, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species native to Japan.
Individuals have brown-gray fur, a red face, and a short tail. It lives in a variety of forest-types, including subtropical to subalpine, deciduous, broadleaf, and evergreen forests, as high as 1650m.
It has a body length ranging from 79 to 95 cm, with a tail length of approximately 10 cm. Males weigh from 10 to 14 kg, females, around 5.5 kg.
The Japanese Macaque lives in mountainous areas of Honshū, Japan. It survives winter temperatures below -15 °C and is perhaps most notable for the amount of time it spends in naturally heated volcanic hot springs in Snow Monkey park located in Yamanouchi town.
The Japanese Macaque lives in troops of 20-100 individuals in size usually subdivided into matrilineal groups consisting of many females and several males. The females have a rigid hierarchy with infants inheriting their mother's rank. The males tend to be transient within the troop but in Jigokudani park a line of alpha males, "chiefs", has been documented.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Macaque - 14.04.2010
Japanese Macaque
It is not for nothing that the Japanese Macaque is also called Snow Monkey: In Japan it does not live in subtropical regions only, but in northern mountains, too; where it is encountered to snow, lasting for months.
