The Natural History of Model Organisms: The rhesus macaque as a success story of the Anthropocene
Figures
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Time-calibrated phylogenetic tree of the 24 macaque (Macaca) species based on molecular data.
The Macaca genus diverged from other members of the primate tribe Papionini approximately 7 million years ago. The position of the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is highlighted by the red box. Phylogeny constructed using TimeTree (Kumar et al., 2017).
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Geographical range across South and South-East Asia of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and 9 other extant sister species in the Macaca genus.
The 10 species shown in different colors represent a complete monophyletic group, with the exception of Macaca leucogenys, which is missing because its complete range information is not yet known with high confidence. Rhesus macaques (blue shaded area) have the largest natural range of any non-human primate, which stretches from Afghanistan in the west, through Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and across a large swathe of China in the east. Figure based on ICUN Red List species range estimates.
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The diets of rhesus macaques can include both natural and anthropogenic food sources.
Rhesus macaques are shown eating (A) Deciduous foliage in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India, (B) Conifer foliage in Shimla, India, (C) Wheat crop in an agricultural area of Himachal Pradesh, India, (D) A popsicle in Haridwar, India, (E) A candy bar in Shimla, India, (F) A tea bun in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India.
Photos taken by Suresh Roy (A, F), Shaurabh Anand (C), Rishabh Bharadwaj (D), and Stefano Kaburu (B, E).