Rhesus macaques are brown monkeys with red faces. They have short hair on their heads, which emphasizes their very expressive faces.
Rhesus macaques are Asian monkeys. Their reside in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Southeast Asia, and China. These intelligent animals can adapt to many habitats. In India, Hindus regard the animals as sacred and usually leave them undisturbed.
The rhesus macaque's diet includes roots, fruit, seeds, and bark, but also insects and small animals. They live in active and noisy groups that can include up to 200 animals. Though these monkeys are good climbers and swimmers, they spend a lot of time on the ground. Males are the dominant sex, but they usually don’t stick around with their groups, so female macaques generally lead these communities. Because these groups include multiple mature males and females, their members are sexually promiscuous. Females usually produce one child each year.
Rhesus macaques have an important history with humans and have aided a great deal of medical and scientific research. Rhesus antigens found in their blood enabled doctors to identify the different human blood groups. These primates also traveled to space before humans.