Animal
Japanese macaque
The Japanese macaque is a monkey with a pink face and thick, fluffy fur. It lives in Japan, where it can be snowy and cold.
The Japanese macaque, or snow monkey, lives farther north than any other monkey or ape except people. Thick fur keeps it warm through snowy winters, and some troops have learned to sit in warm hot springs.
Macaca fuscata, endemic to Japan, is the most northerly nonhuman primate. It lives in female-bonded troops in which daughters inherit their mother's rank, and some troops show learned traditions such as bathing in hot springs and washing food. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
Photo: KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the Japanese macaque
The Japanese macaque is a monkey from Japan.
It has a pink face and a very short tail. Its fur is thick and fluffy. People also call it the snow monkey.
The Japanese macaque is a medium-sized monkey with a pink-red face and rump, a short, stubby tail and thick fur that can be brown, gray or yellowish brown. People often call it the snow monkey.
No monkey or ape, apart from humans, lives farther north. In winter, parts of its home are covered in snow. Males are a little bigger than females, averaging about 11 kilograms against about 8.
Macaca fuscata is endemic to Japan and lives farther north than any other nonhuman primate. The Animal Diversity Web describes brown, gray or yellowish-brown fur, a pinkish-red face and rump, very thick fur and a short, stumpy tail. The population on Yakushima is usually treated as a separate subspecies, M. f. yakui.
Males average about 11.3 kilograms and 57 centimeters, females about 8.4 kilograms and 52.3 centimeters. Body weight seems to follow climate: macaques in the warmer south generally weigh less than those in the snowier north and at higher elevations.
Quick facts
- Group
- Mammal
- Length
- 0.52 to 0.57 m
- Weight
- 8.4 to 11.3 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- up to 32 years
Where it lives
Japanese macaques live only in Japan.
They live in forests on mountains and hills. Some places get lots of snow in winter.
Japanese macaques live only in Japan, on the main islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu and on several smaller islands, such as Yakushima. They live in forests from warm lowlands near the coast up into the mountains.
In the north, their forests lose their leaves in winter and the weather is cool. In the south, the forests stay green all year and it is much warmer. In winter, macaques usually move lower down the mountains.
The IUCN records the species on Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu and on Awaji, Shodo, Yaku, Kinkazan, Kojima and other islands; it is extinct on Tane Island. It occupies broad-leaved deciduous and evergreen forest from subtropical lowlands to subalpine zones up to about 1,500 meters, and densities are usually higher in evergreen forest.
The Animal Diversity Web contrasts northern cool-temperate deciduous forest (about 10.9 degrees Celsius and 1,500 millimeters of rain a year) with southern evergreen forest (about 20 degrees and 3,000 millimeters). Macaques have been seen as high as 3,180 meters, but in winter they usually stay below about 1,800.
Continent
Its habitats
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Forests of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu and several smaller islands, including Yakushima, from subtropical lowlands to subalpine mountains.
Places: Japan.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Japan, China, Germany, United States, France, Brazil, India, Zimbabwe and 2 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
What it eats
Japanese macaques eat many kinds of food.
They eat fruit, leaves, flowers, seeds and bark. They also eat insects. In winter they chew tough old leaves.
Japanese macaques are omnivores, and their menu changes with the seasons. In summer and autumn they eat mostly fruit. In spring they eat flowers and soft young leaves. In winter, when there is little else, they chew tough mature leaves and bark.
They also eat berries, seeds, mushrooms, insects and small animals, and sometimes crops from farms. They are also important seed spreaders in their forests.
The Animal Diversity Web describes a generalist, seasonal diet: mostly fruit in June and from September to November, with seeds under 20 percent of intake then; flowers and some nectar in April and May and from December to March; fibrous mature leaves through winter; easier-to-digest young leaves from April to June; and fungi when found. The IUCN adds berries, small animals, insects, bark and cultivated crops.
On Kinkazan, macaques compete with sika deer for plant food and rely heavily on Japanese barberry and Japanese zelkova, which the deer find unpalatable. Lincoln Park Zoo notes the species' value as a seed disperser.
Ready for winter
Snow monkeys have thick, warm fur.
The fur keeps them cozy in the snow. Their faces stay pink and bare. They have a short, stubby tail.
Japanese macaques do not hibernate, so they need to stay warm all winter. Their very thick fur does the job, and macaques in the north have the thickest coats. Their tails are short and stubby.
Some troops have found another way to warm up. In the Shiga Heights area of Honshu, macaques began climbing into hot springs. Not every troop does this; it is a habit that some groups have learned.
Because they do not hibernate, Japanese macaques rely on very thick fur, especially in the northern part of the range, to survive harsh winters; Lincoln Park Zoo describes the short tail and dense coat as adaptations to a cold climate. Northern macaques also tend to be heavier.
In the Shiga Heights region of Honshu, a troop entered volcanic hot springs that people had used for bathing, presumably to warm up. Lincoln Park Zoo stresses that bathing is a learned behavior that not all macaques show. Macaques move mostly on all fours on the ground; females spend more time in trees and males more on the ground.
Growing up
A baby macaque holds on to its mother's tummy.
Later it rides on her back. Baby girls stay in the same group as their moms all their lives.
Japanese macaques mate in autumn and winter, and babies are born in spring and summer. A mother is pregnant for about 172 days, almost six months, and then leaves the group to give birth in a quiet, private spot. She usually has one baby, weighing about 540 grams.
For its first weeks the baby clings to its mother's belly, and later it rides on her back, until it is about a year old. It can stop drinking milk at about 6 to 8 months. Females are grown up at about 3.5 years and males at about 4.5.
Mating is seasonal: a 1991 Kyoto University study found ovulatory cycles only in autumn and winter, and 310 births over 12 years all fell between March and August, peaking in May (the Animal Diversity Web and Lincoln Park Zoo give a March to September breeding period, which matches the birth season rather than mating). Gestation averages about 172 days; the Animal Diversity Web gives 171.7 days, with a 95 percent range of 157 to 188.5. Females leave the troop to give birth, and one infant is usual (twins about once in 488 births), weighing on average 540 to 550 grams.
Infants are carried near the belly for the first four weeks and on the belly or back until about one year. Weaning may come at 6 to 8 months, though mothers without a later birth may nurse for up to 2.5 years. Infant mortality before age one is 28.4 percent. Females mature at about 3.5 years and males at 4.5; the oldest known wild individuals were a 32-year-old female and a 28-year-old male.
Troop life
Japanese macaques live in big groups called troops.
They clean each other's fur to stay friends. Some have learned to wash their food in water!
Japanese macaques live in troops, which can have up to 161 members. Every troop has a clear order of rank, and higher-ranking monkeys get first turn at food. Daughters inherit their mother's rank and stay in the troop for life, while young males leave as they grow up.
Grooming each other's fur removes parasites and keeps friendships strong. Macaques are active by day and talk with many calls, and more than half of them are calm, peaceful sounds. On the small island of Koshima, a young female began washing sweet potatoes in water in 1953, and other monkeys in her troop learned to do it too.
Troops are female-bonded: females stay in their natal group, males emigrate as they mature, and although troops usually have an alpha male, bonds among females are stronger than those among males. Rank is nepotistic, with daughters inheriting their mother's position; high rank brings first access to food. Lincoln Park Zoo reports troops of up to 161.
Grooming, mostly between mothers and daughters, removes parasites and maintains bonds. The Animal Diversity Web describes six classes of vocalization, over half peaceful or soothing, and a holler that warns of predators. Home ranges average 3.7 square kilometers. On Koshima islet in September 1953, a one-and-a-half-year-old female named Imo began washing sweet potatoes in water; the habit spread gradually, and by 1956 eleven monkeys in her troop did it (Kawai 1965).
Did you know?
Macaques have been seen playing with rocks.
One Japanese macaque was seen playing with rocks, and scientists think it may have been just for fun.
Rock play has been observed and is thought to be recreational, though primatologists are not sure why it happens.
Living alongside people
There are lots of Japanese macaques.
They are safe in many parks. Sometimes they eat food from farms, so people and monkeys must learn to share.
The Japanese macaque is not endangered. It lives across much of Japan, its numbers are growing in many places, and it is found in most of the national parks on its three main islands. It has been protected from hunting in Japan since 1947.
But macaques sometimes raid crops, which causes problems for farmers, and many are removed each year to protect farms. A few local populations in northern Japan are at risk.
The IUCN lists Macaca fuscata as Least Concern (assessed 2015, flagged as needing an update): it is widespread, increasing in many areas and present in most national and quasi-national parks on Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, although a few Tohoku populations are threatened. It has been protected from hunting since 1947 and is listed on CITES Appendix II.
The main problems are conflict with farmers, with over 10,000 macaques killed each year to prevent crop damage according to a 2005 source cited by the IUCN, and hybridization with introduced Taiwanese and rhesus macaques in two prefectures. The Animal Diversity Web gave a wild population of about 100,000 in 2011.
IUCN Red List
How is the japanese macaque doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
See the IUCN Red List assessment · The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2
Amazing facts
-
Snow monkeys live where it snows in winter.
Japanese macaques live farther north than any other primate except humans.
Macaca fuscata is the most northerly nonhuman primate.
-
Some macaques wash their food in water.
Some Japanese macaques wash food in water before they eat it, a habit that spread through their troop.
Sweet-potato washing, begun on Koshima in 1953 by a young female, spread within her troop as a learned tradition.
-
A baby girl macaque gets the same rank as her mom.
In a Japanese macaque troop, daughters inherit their mother's rank, so a young monkey can outrank older ones.
Rank is matrilineal and nepotistic; younger animals can outrank older troop members.
-
Macaques have been seen playing with rocks.
One Japanese macaque was seen playing with rocks, and scientists think it may have been just for fun.
Rock play has been observed and is thought to be recreational, though primatologists are not sure why it happens.
Words to know
- troop
- a group of monkeys that live together
- grooming
- cleaning another animal's fur, which also keeps friendships strong
- hibernate
- to spend the winter in a deep sleep
- omnivore
- an animal that eats both plants and animals
- rank
- an animal's place in its group's order
- endemic
- found naturally in only one place
Discovery challenge
-
What do some snow monkeys do to warm up?
What are some Japanese macaque troops famous for doing?
Which learned behavior are some Japanese macaque troops known for?
- Sitting in hot springs
- Building nests in the snow
- Sleeping inside hollow logs
Show the answer
Sitting in hot springs
Some snow monkeys sit in warm hot springs.
Some troops, such as one in Shiga Heights, have learned to climb into hot springs, probably to warm up.
Hot-spring bathing is a learned behavior of particular troops, not of the whole species.
-
Which of these animals lives where it snows?
Which of these primates lives farthest north?
Which nonhuman primate has the most northerly range?
- Japanese macaque
- Mandrill
- Aye-aye
Show the answer
Japanese macaque
The Japanese macaque lives where it snows.
Japanese macaques live farther north than any other primate except humans.
Macaca fuscata reaches farther north than any other nonhuman primate.
-
How does a young girl macaque get her place in the group?
How does a young female macaque get her rank in the troop?
How is a female's rank usually determined in a Japanese macaque troop?
- From her mother
- By being the tallest
- By winning a race
Show the answer
From her mother
She gets the same place as her mom.
Daughters inherit their mother's rank.
Rank is nepotistic: daughters inherit their mother's position.
-
Where do Japanese macaques live?
In which country do wild Japanese macaques live?
To which country is Macaca fuscata endemic?
- Japan
- Brazil
- Australia
Show the answer
Japan
They live in Japan.
They live only in Japan, on Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and smaller islands.
Endemic to Japan, including the Yakushima subspecies.
Places where you might see it
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Explain how Japanese macaques survive snowy winters.
- Describe how the macaque diet changes with the seasons.
- Describe troop life: rank, grooming and females staying with their mothers.
- Understand that some behaviors, like hot-spring bathing, are learned by particular groups.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- What is the difference between something an animal is born knowing and something it learns from its group?
- How do you think a habit like washing food spreads through a troop?
- How might farmers and monkeys share land without harming each other?
Try at home or in class
- Make a seasons chart: list what a Japanese macaque eats in spring, summer, autumn and winter.
- Fill two jars with warm water, wrap one in a thick sock, and check with a grown-up which stays warm longer, like a macaque's thick fur.
Key vocabulary: troop, grooming, hibernate, omnivore, rank, endemic
Where these facts come from
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Macaca fuscata (Japanese Macaque), global assessment , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Macaca fuscata (Japanese macaque) , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
- Japanese Macaque , Lincoln Park Zoo
- Newly-acquired Pre-cultural Behavior of the Natural Troop of Japanese Monkeys on Koshima Islet (M. Kawai, Primates 6(1), 1965) , Japan Monkey Centre
- Mechanisms Controlling Seasonal Breeding in Japanese Monkeys (M. Nozaki, Primate Research 7(2), 1991) , Primate Society of Japan (J-STAGE)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 24, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.