Lion-tailed macaque
Amazing fact
A lion-tailed macaque’s cheek pouches can hold as much food as its stomach.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
A lion-tailed macaque’s cheek pouches can hold as much food as its stomach.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Lion-tailed macaque
- Scientific name
- Macaca silenus
- Japanese name
- シシオザル
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Primates
- Family
- Cercopithecidae
- Genus
- Macaca
It lives in groups in evergreen forests of the Western Ghats mountains in southwestern India.
Its body and face are black, with a gray mane around the face, and the tip of its tail has a tuft like a lion's.
Males often call loudly to defend their territory, a behavior not seen in any other macaque.
How the Lion-tailed macaque lives
They are active during the day and live in trees. They eat mainly fruit, as well as leaves, flowers and fungi. They get some of their water by licking dew from leaves. They communicate with varied calls and body movements.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- Body length: males 51–61 cm, females 42–46 cm
- Weight
- males 5–10 kg, females 2–6 kg
- Diet
- Fruit, nuts, shoots, insects and other foods
- Range
- Western Ghats of southwestern India
Where the Lion-tailed macaque has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- シシオザル
- 简体中文
- 狮尾猴
- 繁體中文
- 獅尾猴
- 한국어
- 사자꼬리마카크
- Español
- Sileno
- Français
- Ouandérou
- Deutsch
- Bartaffe
- Português (Brasil)
- Macaco-cauda-de-leão
- Italiano
- Scimmia dalla barba bianca
- हिन्दी
- लायन-टेल्ड मकाक
- العربية
- مكاك أسدي الذيل
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Makaka ekor singa
- Tiếng Việt
- Khỉ đuôi sư tử
- Русский
- Вандеру
- বাংলা
- লায়ন-টেল ম্যাকাক
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- よこはま動物園ズーラシア — シシオザルChecked: 2026-11-03
- 日本モンキーセンター — シシオザルChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Macaca silenusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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