User:Sahelbej1

Physical Characteristic
The body of lion-tailed macaques is totally covered by black. They have a beautiful silvery white mane which surrounds them from the head, through the cheek down to it chin. They also have a black tuft at the end of the tail just like a lion. But they mostly look like a lion because of their mane. They have a body length of 40 cm to 60 cm and the length of their tail is almost 25 cm. They weigh about 3 kg to 10 kg. Mostly Alpha males reach a weight of 10 kg. They have a hairless face which is black in color. Females are normally smaller than males.

Eating Habits
Lion-tailed macaques are omnivorous in nature. They have large canines as well as broad molar for cutting flesh and chewing plant products. They have birds, insect, fruits, leaves and other small animals in their diet.

Habitat
They are an arboreal animal. They spend most of their life on the upper canopy of the evergreen trees. They only land on the ground during the time of emergency.

Geographic Range
They are found in the southwestern part of India. They can be seen in states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala. They found in the western ghats of India, which are tropical evergreen forests. They are found on the upper canopy of the trees

Life Span
On average they survive for 20 years. Males usually live longer than females.

Behaviour
These animals live in groups. These groups consist of few males and a large number of females and their children. They have great knowledge of teamwork. during free times, they groom each other to strengthen their reliability and teamwork. Grooming shows care for each other. They are terrestrial animals and stay within their territory. They defend their territory by loud cries and howling which can be heard fro a long distance. They even can fight to acquire other territories. These groups have a leader which is an alpha male. They interact with each other through sound, visuals and chemicals. Breeding

These animals have no breeding time. females mate once in a year if possible and males mate every female in their group. Female releases a special chemical or pheromone which shows she is ready of coitus. Female breed when they reach up to an age of 5 years while male breed after the age of 8 years. They have a gestation period of 180 days. They give birth 1 to 2 children at once. They directly give birth to an offspring, which mean they are viviparous. They are iteroparous which mean they breed endless times before they die. Population

All over India approx. 3000-3500 lion-tailed macaques are present in the western ghats of India. According to the IUCN report, they are endangered animals. They face many problems such as cutting of trees which are destroying their habitats. Humans have started agriculture after cutting down the forest where they used to live. These have to lead to a drastic decrease in their population. The government are taking actions to increase their population. They are conserved in many wildlife sanctuaries and conservation forest.