The Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), also known colloquially as the snow monkey, is the only monkey species native to Japan. They have brownish grey fur, pinkish-red faces, and short tails.
They are omnivorous and eat a variety of plants, ferns, fruit, leaves, seeds and insects. Their coat is well-adapted to the cold and its thickness increases as the temperature decreases and can cope with temperatures as low as −20 °C.
Female macaques typically maintain social relationships and hygiene through grooming. The infant macaques are taught to groom at a young age.
During the winter, macaques huddle together for warmth on sleeping grounds. These macaques however, at Hells Valley in the northern part of Nagano, are famous for bathing in hot springs in the winter to warm up. In 1963, a young female snow monkey waded into a hot spring in the Nagano Mountains to retrieve some soybeans. She loved the warmth and soon other young monkeys joined her in the water. At first, the behavior caught on only with the young macaques and their mothers but eventually the rest of the troop joined in. When they began to invade nearby hot tubs and human spas though, government officials decided to build the Nagano macaques their own hot springs!
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High/Low key
Babies playing!
Grooming
Day 2 - no snow
Day 1 - snowstorm
