With the aliases of Black-Limbed Monkey and Rock-Dwelling Macaque, it belongs to the Cercopithecidae family of Primates order. Its scientific name is Macaca cyclopis (Latin), or Taiwan Macaque (English).
Taiwan Macaque'sbody sizeis similar to that of macaque. The male body-length reaches 44 to 54 centimeters, and the female 36 to 45 centimeters. An adult male is distinctively greater than a female. The animal's body hair is taupe or bluish gray, face pinkish and forehead hairless in grayish yellow. It has round head with thick hair, dense palpus on both cheeks, and vertical hair slanting backwards. Its hands and legs are all black; hence it gets the name Black-limbed Monkey. Its tail is long, with olive base, gray tip, and obvious black streaks in the middle.
Taiwan Macaqueis a species endemic to China. It used to perch on coastal rocky meadows and forests, but owing to the change of living environments, now it has transferred to forests in mountain areas, living in caves or among rocks. It rests in caves at noon, and goes out in groups to look for food in the morning and evening, mainly feeding on bacca, tender leaves, insects and crustacean and mollusks as well. Sometimes it also steals grains, melons and fruits from farmers for food. It lives and moves about in groups of 5 to 6 heads as a small group, or as large as 30 to 50 heads, generally with an adult male with strong physique as the group leader.
Ithas estrus all the year around, littering without obvious seasonality, and one baby per fetus. Its gestation period is about 6 months, and sexual maturity at the age of 5 to 6. Under breeding condition, it has a lifespan of about 20-odd years.
It is mainly distributed in the south and middle part of Taiwan Island, with stock on hand of about 7,000 heads.
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