Tonkean macaques are strong, heavily-built primates that belong to the Old World monkeys family. They are the biggest among all the macaque species. The color of their coat is dark brown to black and they have gray areas on their cheeks and rump. These macaques have long snouts, short tails, and very strong limbs.
Tonkean macaques are very social creatures that occur in groups of 10-30 individuals. They are active during the day and like to spend their time climbing, playing and swinging in the trees. They also spend a lot of time on the ground. Young Tonkean macaques are usually seen play-fighting while females spend their time grooming each other. Tonkean macaques don't have dominance hierarchies and are not aggressive towards each other. They like to keep peace within the troop, and in order to do so when two adults begin a fight a third adult will intervene to stop them.
Little information is known regarding the mating system in Tonkean macaques. Females give birth to a single infant and gestation period lasts around 173 days.
Tonkean macaques are considered to be agricultural pests and are often poisoned, trapped or killed. They also suffer from hunting for food and are often collected for use as pets. Another threat to these animals is the destruction of their habitat due to cacao and oil palm plantations, and also human settlements.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Tonkean macaque total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today are decreasing.
As frugivorous animals, Tonkean macaques serve as key seed dispersers of their range. In addition, these primates are prey species for some local predators.