| |
|
| Macaques | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Crab-Eating Macaque Macaca fascicularis | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Species | ||||||||||||||
| see text |
The macaques form the genus Macaca of Old World monkeys.
Aside from humans (genus Homo), the macaques are the most widespread primate genus, ranging from northern Africa to Japan. Nineteen macaque species are currently recognised, and they include some of the monkeys best known to non-zoologists, such as the rhesus monkey, Macaca mulatta, and the Barbary ape, M. sylvanus, a colony of which lives on the Rock of Gibraltar. Although several species lack tails, and their common names therefore refer to them as apes, these are true monkeys, with no relationship to the great apes in family Hominidae or the lesser apes in family Hylobatidae.
Several species of macaque have been used extensively in medical research.