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Concept
Barbary macaque
Summary
The Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus), also known as Barbary ape, is a macaque species native to the Atlas Mountains of Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, along with a small introduced population in Gibraltar.
It is the type species of the genus Macaca. The species is of particular interest because males play an atypical role in rearing young. Because of uncertain paternity, males are integral to raising all infants. Generally, Barbary macaques of both sexes and all ages contribute in alloparental care of young.
The diet of the Barbary macaque consists primarily of plants and insects and they are found in a variety of habitats. Males live to around 25 years old while females may live up to 30 years. Besides humans, they are the only free-living primates in Europe. Although the species is commonly referred to as the "Barbary ape", the Barbary macaque is actually a true monkey. Its name refers to the Barbary Coast of Northwest Africa.
The population of the Barbary macaques in Gibraltar is the only one outside Northern Africa and the only population of wild monkeys in Europe. Barbary macaques were once widely distributed in Europe, as far north as England, from the Early Pliocene (Zanclean) to the Late Pleistocene.
About 300 macaques live on the Rock of Gibraltar. This population appears to be stable or increasing, while the North African population is declining.
The Barbary macaque is first described in scientific literature by Aristotle in the fourth century BCE work History of Animals. He writes of an ape with "arms like a man, only covered with hair", "feet [which] are exceptional in kind ... like large hands", and "a tail as small as small can be, just a sort of indication of a tail". It is likely that Galen (129–c.216) dissected the Barbary macaque in the second century CE, presuming the internal structure to be the same as a human. Such was the authority of his work, some mistakes he made were not corrected until Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) proved otherwise over a thousand years later.
Official source
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