Foto's

Morning grooming session
Séance de toilette matinale

Aaah ... The pleasure of having your body warmed up by the first rays of sun while a congener rids you of dirt and parasites! This is likely a familiar scene at Wat Khao Chong Krachok (Prachuap Khiri Khan). This photo is a sort of complement to my previous upload, since I had mentioned the many monkeys living around this Buddhist temple without showing one. I just felt like filling that gap. Photos of wild animals are often more interesting if there is "behaviour" being shown, but can "grooming" be considered among valuable behaviours? If not, the nice setting perhaps compensates.

"The stump-tailed macaque, also called the bear macaque, is a species of macaque found in Southern Asia. It is primarily frugivorous but it also eats other types of vegetation such as seeds, leaves and roots. It can also hunt for freshwater crabs, frogs, bird eggs and insects. The stump-tailed macaque has long, thick, dark brown fur covering its body, but its face and its short tail are hairless. Infants are born white and darken as they mature. As they age, their bright pink or red faces darken to brown or nearly black and lose a lot of their hair. Males are much larger than females (52-65 cm vs. 48.5-58.5 cm; 9.7-10.2 kg vs. 7.5-9.1 kg) and their canine teeth, important for establishing dominance within their social group, are more elongated than those of the females. Like all macaques, this species has cheek pouches to store food for short periods of time." (adapted from Wikipedia)