Rhesus Macaques eating molluscs and crabs : rare behaviour

  • 10 years ago
Are these regular Rhesus of Crab-eating Macaques? What are they scouring the mangroves and mudflats for - crabs and molluscs or something more interesting?

"Rhesus Macaques studied in the Sundarbans fed on mangrove leaves, fruits, molluscs, and crabs." (Mandal 1964). (Please help us identify the monkey)

Fish feeding adaptation by Rhesus Macaque Macaca mulatta (Cercopithecidae) in the Sundarban mangrove swamps, India by Joydeb Majumder, Rahul Lodh, B.K. Agarwala.

source - www.threatenedtaxa.org/ZooPrintJournal/2012/.../o288426iv122539-2540.pd

The Sundarbans is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage Site covering parts of Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat District in southwestern Bangladesh.

Located in Bangladesh, the Sundarbans borders the Sundarbans National Park in the Indian state of West Bengal. Sundarbans is divided into three protected forests in Bangladesh namely Sundarbans South, East and West Wildlife Sanctuary. This region is densely covered by mangrove forests, and is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger. There is much more wildlife here than just the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). Most importantly, mangroves are a transition from the marine to freshwater and terrestrial systems, and provide critical habitat for numerous species of small fish, crabs, shrimps and other crustaceans that adapt to feed and shelter, and reproduce among the tangled mass of roots, known as pneumatophores, which grow upward from the anaerobic mud to get the supply of oxygen. Fishing Cats, Macaques, wild boars, Common Grey Mongooses, Foxes, Jungle Cats, Flying Foxes, Pangolins, and spotted deer are also found in abundance in the Sundarbans.

source - Wikipedia

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.

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