Arunachal macaque Arunachal macaque The Arunachal macaque ("Macaca munzala"), a relatively large brown primate with a comparatively short tail, is a macaque native to Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. Its species name comes from "munzala" ("monkey of the deep forest") as it was called by the Dirang Monpa tribe. It was discovered as a new taxon in 1997 by the noted Indian primatologist Anwaruddin Choudhury, but he thought it to be a new subspecies of Tibetan (or Père David's) macaque. It was described as a new species in 2004, when a group of scientists from the Nature Conservation Foundation, India reported it.
Macaque macaques have become invasive species in different parts of the world, while others that survive in forest habitats remain threatened. The long-tailed macaque ("Macaca fascicularis") is listed as a threat and invasive alien species in Mauritius along with the rhesus macaques ("Macaca mulatta") in Florida. The long-tailed macaque causes severe damage to parts of its range where it has been introduced because the populations grow unchecked due to a lack of predators. On the island Mauritius, they have created serious conservation concerns for other endemic species. They consume seeds of native plants and aid in the spread of exotic weeds