Rhesus macaque Rhesus macaque The rhesus macaque ("Macaca mulatta") is one of the best-known species of Old World monkeys. It is listed as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and its tolerance of a broad range of habitats. Native to South, Central, and Southeast Asia, rhesus macaque have the widest geographic ranges of any nonhuman primate, occupying a great diversity of altitudes and a great variety of habitats, from grasslands to arid and forested areas, but also close to human settlements. The rhesus macaque is brown or grey in
Tibetan macaque in males but is a more vivid, reddish-pink in females. The infants have silver-and-black fur that changes to its adult color at the age of two. The Tibetan macaque lives in mixed sex groups. In their complex social system, females remain for life in their natal group, but males disperse shortly after their adolescence (at about 8 years old). Macaque societies are hierarchical, with higher-ranking males getting better access to the resources, namely food and sexually-receptive females. Alpha males dominate the group, being those that are typically large, strong and newly mature. As they age, males tend to gradually lose