Lion-tailed Macaque

A monkey with a shared nickname, not a shared species

The shared word “lion” does not make the lion-tailed macaque and a gelada the same species. Their scientific names show different genera.

• Endemic means a species lives naturally in one limited region. This macaque lives in wet forests of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
• The macaque is diurnal, meaning active mainly by day, and it usually rests in trees at night.
• It spends much of its time in the canopy, the upper layer of leaves and branches.

Source: Wisconsin National Primate Research Center.

Food, seeds, and social groups

Fruits and seeds are important foods. The macaque also eats insects and other small animals. Different trees fruit at different times, so a varied forest helps provide food year-round.

• It can carry some seeds away from a parent tree, and those seeds may then grow elsewhere. This is seed dispersal.
• The macaque also eats some seeds, so it does not disperse every seed it handles.
• A troop includes adult females, young macaques, and usually one or a few adult males. Females often remain in their birth group, while males may move between groups.
• A mother usually has one infant at a time, and births are spaced apart, which can slow recovery after losses.

Four pressures on a rainforest specialist

• Forest loss: clearing removes fruiting trees and resting sites.
• Fragmentation: roads or plantations divide one forest into smaller patches.
• Road danger: a macaque forced to cross on the ground can meet vehicles.
• Human food: feeding and open waste can change behaviour and create conflict.

A corridor links habitat patches, and a canopy bridge gives tree-living animals a route above a gap. Bridges can help at selected crossings, but they cannot replace a whole forest.

The IUCN lists the species as Endangered. India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 places it in Schedule I, the Act’s strongest animal-protection schedule.

What field studies show

• Valparai, Anamalai Hills: tea and coffee estates divide rainforest into patches. Local work targets road speed, waste, and feeding by people, alongside canopy bridges over gaps.
• Silent Valley, Kerala: researchers recorded macaques across the area’s evergreen forests, and warned that only some forest areas could support lasting populations.
• Anamalai fragments and Karnataka sites: a genetics study found isolated Anamalai groups had lower mitochondrial diversity than groups in connected forest. This shows why links between patches matter.

A separate 2026 Anamalai study followed groups across four decades and found population trends differed among fragments. One growing group does not mean every fragment is safe. A Valparai parasite study also found more parasite types in groups near human settlements. It did not prove that any single food source caused the difference.

Sources: Nature Conservation Foundation, PLOS ONE genetics study, 2026 Anamalai study, Valparai parasite study.

A funded, named state project adds ten bridges

In May 2026, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department reported installing 10 new artificial canopy bridges across the Valparai landscape. Five went up in each of the Valparai and Manombolly forest ranges, at points where macaques were most often forced to descend to the ground.

• The work was funded by ₹48.50 lakh, sanctioned by the Tamil Nadu government in October 2025. It falls under a scheme named the Lion-Tailed Macaque Conservation Project.
• Forest officials reported that road kills reduced drastically after installation, with only one recorded injury, which recovered after treatment.
• This is a separate, government-funded expansion, distinct from the earlier Nature Conservation Foundation bridges already used in the Valparai landscape.

Source: DT Next, May 2026.