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Snow Tolerance of Japanese Macaques Inhabiting High-Latitude Mountainous Forests of Japan

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High Altitude Primates

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR))

Abstract

The Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) has flourished as a unique generalist species endemic to the Japanese archipelago, by acclimatizing to diverse environments along altitudinal and latitudinal clines. This chapter reviews recent studies on overwintering tactics of macaques inhabiting the Shirakami Mountains, northern Japan, by focusing on snow tolerance derived from dietary characteristics and habitat-use patterns. The Shirakami Mountains are one of the heaviest snowfall areas in the world, and constitute the northernmost habitats of any nonhuman primate. Macaques inhabiting snowy areas are exposed to the dangers of hypothermia and famine during winter, commonly resulting in pronounced energy deficit. To compensate for this deficit, they not only feed on the bark and buds of woody plants—fallback resources for most species of the genus macaque—but also use unique feeding tactics to access concealed dietary resources buried in snow, by seasonally changing their habitat-use patterns. Conifer plantations are often considered low-quality habitats, but macaques strategically use these artificial forests as their resting and feeding sites. In addition to describing biological interactions between macaques and their limited food plants in heavy-snowfall areas, this chapter characterizes the regional specialization of northernmost macaques.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Dr. Haruka Sakamaki-Enari for her helpful comments on this work. I am grateful to Dr. Naoki Maruyama, Dr. Kazuo Wada, Dr. Kunio Watanabe, and Dr. Toshiki Aoi, for allowing me to conduct meaningful research in the Shirakami Mountains. The findings reviewed in this chapter were obtained from research projects supported by Earthwatch Japan; The Mitsui & Co. Ltd. Environmental Fund; Grant-in-Aid for Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellows (19-5374); Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (23710279) from the JSPS; The Cooperation Research Program of the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University; and The Shirakami-Sanchi World Heritage Conservation Center.

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  1. Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University, 1–23 Wakabamachi, Tsuruoka, Yamagata, 997-8555, Japan

    Hiroto Enari

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  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

    Nanda B. Grow

  2. Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

    Sharon Gursky-Doyen

  3. Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

    Alicia Krzton

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Enari, H. (2014). Snow Tolerance of Japanese Macaques Inhabiting High-Latitude Mountainous Forests of Japan. In: Grow, N., Gursky-Doyen, S., Krzton, A. (eds) High Altitude Primates. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8175-1_8

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