Rhesus monkey

Mammal

Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta)

For reflection

Monkeys are worshipped in Asia. However their resemblance of rhesus monkeys to humans has become their undoing. To this day they are used for experiments. In the 1950s about 200,000 rhesus monkeys each year were exported from India to the USA for biological, medical and psychological reasons and even for cosmic space research. Already in 1940 Karl Landsteiner discovered the so called rhesus factor (Rh+ or Rh-) in their blood which also exists in human blood.

   


Category: Mammal

Sexually mature: ♀ at 3.5 years; ♂ at 4.5 years

gestation period: 135-194 days

food: fruits, seeds, buds, sprouts, roots, leaves, herbs, bast, invertebrates, small vertebrates, crops, waste

habitat: semi-deserts, forests in the tropical to temperate zone up to 3000m asl, human settlements

Danger: endangered

distribution area