Mozu Snow Monkey
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In the video “Mozu the Snow Monkey”, we are presented to the Japanese Macaque (Macaca fuscata) also known, as the Snow Monkey. The Snow monkeys are terrestrial and are also said to be the most northern-living non-human primate. Japanese Macaques have brown grayish fur; a red face; and a short tail. These monkeys are diurnal and spend the majority of their time in the branches of the trees. What I found more interesting about these monkeys is that they are not afraid of the water.
Most non-human primates are very afraid to the water and they avoid it whenever they get a chance to do so. But these macaques enjoy playing in the water. We saw that macaques since infantcy play with other juvenile macaques in the water, swimming and diving. Also another interesting fact related to the water is the trip they make every winter in order to survive the extreme harsh cold conditions of the region were they are located. This trip allows them to spend the winter time in relaxing naturally-heated volcanic hot springs. Maybe the reason they learn at an early age to not be afraid of the water is because when they have to move because of the winter, they would need to get use to the different environmental
conditions. Another important function of them knowing how to swim is that in case they fall in the water by accident when trying to escape from their predators, this might help them get away and survive. Also in the video it was mentioned that although it seems to be an advantage for them to know how to swim, sometimes it could become dangerous as in the case of the monkey that jumped into the hottest part of the volcanic spring and died because of the extreme temperatures.
Finally the Japanese Macaques or snow monkeys seem to have an advantage over other monkeys as they are able to swim and adjust to different environments
encompasing terrestrial and aquatic ones.