Habitat

Long-tailed macaques can be found throughout Southeast Asia (River Safari Singapore, n.d.). They have lived in close proximity to human settlements for a long time, preferring to inhabit the forest edges (Gumert, Fuentes & L. Jones-Engel, 2011). They are extremely adaptable and thus, their geographical range is one of the widest among primates(Gumert, 2011), ranging from primary and secondary forests to coastal, mangrove, swamp and riverine forests (as cited in Sha et al., 2009a; Gumert, 2011).

Singapore has a population of around 1,500 individuals (Lee, 2011) and they are commonly found at 6 hotspots – Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Upper Peirce Reservoir Park, Lower Peirce Reservoir Park, Upper Seletar Reservoir Park, MacRitchie Reservoir Park and Rifle Range Road (Sha et al., 2009b). The population density of long-tailed macaques in Singapore is around 28.2 individuals per km² in nature reserves and the periphery where 70% of the population resides, which is much less than Hong Kong (326/km²) and Bali (1111/km²) (Sha et al., 2009a). Research has also suggested that Singapore’s long-tailed macaque population is a unique one that is different from those found in other parts of Southeast Asia in terms of its physical characteristics (Lee, 2011).

Source. National Parks Board. (n.d.) [Adapted version of a map of the parks in Singapore]. Retrieved from https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature