Nicobar long-tailed macaque Nicobar long-tailed macaque The Nicobar long-tailed macaque ("Macaca fascicularis umbrosa", popularly known as the Nicobar monkey) is a subspecies of the crab-eating macaque ("M. fascicularis"), endemic to the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. This primate is found on three of the Nicobar Islands—Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and Katchal—in biome regions consisting of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. The Nicobar long-tailed macaque has brownish to grey fur, with lighter colouration on its undersides. Its face is pinkish-brown, with white colour spots on its eyelids. Infants are born with a dark natal coating, which lightens as they reach maturity,
Nicobar long-tailed macaque territory measures some on average. The Nicobar long-tailed macaque is a frugivore, with its principal diet consisting of fruits and nuts. In common with other crab-eating macaques it turns to other sources of food—typically in the dry and early rainy tropical seasons—when the preferred fruits are unavailable. This alternate diet includes young leaves, insects, flowers, seeds, and bark; it is also known to eat small crabs, frogs and other creatures taken from the shorelines and mangroves when foraging in these environments. Macaque populations which live in areas close to human settlements and farms frequently raid the croplands for food, and