Chance Detour To The Assam Macaques

Manas National Park

Like I was telling you in “The Capped Langurs Of Bansbari”, I’d been searching high and low in the Bansbari and Bhuyanpara ranges of Manas National park for The Assam Macaque. I’d repeatedly asked Pinku and Manjit, who had been with me for three days and they had heard me repeat the same queries with every forest guard and guide that I’d run into. No one apparently knew how and where to find them it seemed. Well, on that last morning of the fourth day there, I decided to end our morning safari early. My arm was hurting with the weight of the 600 mm which had been pretty much used hand held for all of those three days and after a break of like four months, home was a few hours’ drive away, there was chance of rain and I honestly had had my fill of Langurs for this trip. On the way back, Pinku decided to take a short detour. I didn’t object, he was right, we had all the time and I think you’ve worked out what happened next. What I’ll never know though is if the detour was intentional and if that choice would have brought the same results if I hadn’t decided to end the safari early and head back at that time?

So there he was, my guy in Pic : 1. Bang above the middle of the road. Just like you see him. I’d seen enough pictures of them to know who they were. The boys called them “Bandor”, monkeys in Asamese, we'd been calling the Langurs "Bandor" as well in our conversations in Asamese. They didn’t press on too much when I insisted that these guys were what I was after, the red faced, short tailed, red assed, Assam Macaque. It was a small group, probably a family. While my guy posed in front of the car, the rest of them were in the trees on both sides of the road. They were all a lot more chilled out than the Langurs we had been seeing but I think that was the group dynamic for that time of the day and also had to do with the small size of the group. While Langurs are leaf eating monkeys who have to keep eating all day, these guys are omnivorous and their diet is higher in energy making them more active usually. They eat leaves and fruits off the trees and will also have a go at insects, bird eggs and even small animals.

These guys are found from Nepal, through North East India and to Vietnam. It’s a globally threatened species and I’d say they’re more threatened here in Assam where they’re named after than maybe in other places where they’re found. If the Rhino is the pride of Assam, sadly I’d say it’s Macaque is it’s shame yeah, that bad. We don’t see them anywhere anymore. Over 3 days in this side of Manas and I could spot only this one little troop. If you have to travel to some temple sites in the state to catch a few of these guys foraging and they aren't around as much in Manas which is dense forest yet close to human settlements and does not have as much of a tourist load as Kaziranga; that says it all I recon. Even the vulnerable Great Hornbill breathes easy here and the near threatened Black Giant Squirrel falls asleep without a care on a tree by the road in broad daylight. Wildlife is the only reason for tourism here, yet no one here seemed to know about the whereabouts of these guys anymore or if they do know, they’re protecting them the best they can given their limited resources and abilities. That’s where it’s at as per my recent experience. Will someone higher up, somewhere stop counting their accolades of tiger conservation and look around a little please?

That five minute detour took like 20 or so I think but I got what I was after. Sure not as much as with the Langurs but given the circumstances, I think I hit my target for the trip with a huge bonus of the Hornbills and the other smaller surprises. The little troop of Assam Macaque had males, females and infants as you can see. Their facial expressions are just so much fun. Check out the guy in Pics : 3 & 4. Isn’t he kinda doing that meme, the one with the girl and the guy who’s checking out another girl? Haha The kids with the mothers were pretty good finds, especially the young one's facial expressions. Their eyes dont pop as much in comparison to the Langurs but the latter have black faces which helps that. These guys have awesome expressions.

I think I did pretty ok for my first try at Primates and definitely intend to keep at it. Getting to all of them is going to be a bit of trek to say the least but that’s the game. While we’re on Macaques, what’s interesting about these guys is that their behavior as a group seems to change apparently depending on where they are in relation to humans and their interactions with us. The ones living closer to religious places seemingly behave very different to ones that don’t. Go figure and do Google. Langurs and Macaques live pretty well with each other in close proximity in the wild. There’s no scientific evidence to suggest otherwise and there never has been. In fact there’s heaps of pictures of the two species intermingling even. Why the hell was Delhi administration sticking up posters of Langurs and hiring guys to behave like Langurs to keep Macaques away in 2023 during G20 then? 

Probably some actual monkey business that I'll never figure out. Sometimes with people with all the tech in the world even, you just don’t know do you?