Distribution and Habitat
The crab-eating macaque lives in a wide variety of habitats, including primary lowland rainforests, disturbed and secondary rainforests, and riverine and coastal forests of nipa palm and mangrove. They also easily adjust to human settlements; they are considered sacred at some Hindu temples and on some small islands, but a pest around farms and villages. Typically, they prefer disturbed habitats and forest periphery. The native range of this species includes most of mainland Southeast Asia, from extreme Southeastern Bangladesh down through Malaysia, and the Maritime Southeast Asia islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, offshore islands, the islands of the Philippines, and the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. This monkey is a rare example of a terrestrial mammal that violates the Wallace Line.
M. fascicularis is an introduced alien species in several locations, including Hong Kong, western New Guinea, Anggaur Island in Palau, and Mauritius. Where it is not a native species, particularly on island ecosystems whose species often evolved in isolation from large predators, M. fascicularis is a documented threat to many native species. This has led the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to list M. fascicularis as one of the "100 worst invasive alien species". Insofar as it is present as an invasive alien species on several islands, it has been labelled a "weed" species and is yet another significant ecological threat to those ecosystems and the species within them. However, M. fascicularis is not a threat to biodiversity in its native range.
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