News: The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL), has recommended reinstating Rhesus macaque under Wildlife Act Schedule II to restore protection, enforcement, and scientific management.
About Rhesus Macaque
- The Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is an ‘Old World’ monkey in the Macaca genus , native to South Asia.
- Distribution: It is native to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Afghanistan, Vietnam, southern China, and some neighboring areas.
- Physical characteristic
- It has brown or grey fur with a pinkish to red face and red rears.
- It shows close-cropped head hair that highlights expressive faces and a rounder, less elongated facial structure than langurs.
- It has a relatively short tail and commonly red or brown eyes.
- Behaviour: The Rhesus macaque is diurnal, and both arboreal and terrestrial.
- Diet
- It is mostly herbivorous, feeding mainly on fruit, but also eating seeds, roots, buds, bark, and cereals.
- They have also been observed eating termites, grasshoppers, ants, and beetles.
- Habitat
- It occurs in forests, mangroves, scrub, grasslands, and mountainous regions.
- It adapts well to human presence and often forms larger troops in human-dominated landscapes than in forests.
- Conservation status
- IUCN status: It is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
- In December 2022, rhesus macaques were moved from Schedule II of the WPA to Schedule IV.
- In November 2025, the National Board for Wildlife recommended reclassifying the rhesus macaque back into Schedule II.
