Singh, Mewa

Sushma, H. S.

English

Publications of the IAS Fellows

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 95, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2008 1535
Hunting of Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) by the lion-tailed  
macaque (Macaca silenus) in the Western Ghats, India 
In most primate species, with the excep-
tion of Colobinae and Indriidae, faunal 
prey constitutes a significant portion of 
the diet1. The prey mainly includes arthro-
pods and small vertebrates. The type of 
prey species varies with the body size of 
the primate species, with small-bodied 
primates such as prosimians feeding 
mainly on insects. The relatively large-
bodied primates included small vertebrates 
such as lizards, birds, small mammals, 
etc. in their diet2–4. Occurrence of larger 
vertebrate prey such as hare, fawn of an-
telopes and other species of monkeys has 
been reported in the diet of large-bodied 
primates such as chimpanzees and  
baboons5,6. Consumption of large verte-
brate prey has also been reported in 
capuchins7. Hunting, in terms of pursuit, 
capture and consumption of large verte-
brate prey, has been well documented in 
chimpanzees6,8,9, baboons5,10 and capu-
chins7. Most macaques have an omni-
vorous diet with varying proportions of 
fruits, leaves, flowers, arthropods and, to 
some extent, small vertebrates3,11–13. The 
lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) is 
an endangered species endemic to the 
evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, 
India. Its diet mainly consists of fruits, 
arthropods, flowers and other minor items 
such as moss, mushroom and grass14,15. 
The Indian giant squirrel is a large, diur-
nal, arboreal squirrel. It is widely dis-
tributed in peninsular India and occurs in 
the Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats and 
Central India16. The squirrel inhabits 
mainly moist deciduous, riverine and  
evergreen forests. Average body weight 
of an adult squirrel17 is about 2 kg with a 
body length of 35–41 cm and tail length 
of about 60 cm. Here we report an inci-
dent of predation on a sub-adult Indian 
giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) by an adult, 
male, lion-tailed macaque.  
This incident took place during our 
study on resource partitioning among 
sympatric, diurnal, arboreal mammals in 
the evergreen forests of the Indira Gandhi 
Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, India. 
The study site, Pachchapalmalai Shola 
(10°24′35.38″N and 77°0′31.34″E), is an 
evergreen forest fragment with an area  
of about 3.5 km2. The diurnal, arboreal 
mammalian community at the study site 
consisted of two groups of lion-tailed 
macaques, ten groups of Nilgiri langur 
(Semnopithecus johnii), two visiting 
groups of bonnet macaque and several 
individuals of the Indian giant squirrel18. 
Two individuals of the Indian giant 
squirrel were chosen for the study and 
observations were made using ad libitum
and scan sampling19. 
The following observations were made 
by one of the authors (H.S.S.). On 29 
April 2001, at 9:20 am a few individuals 
from the study group of lion-tailed  
macaques were foraging for insects in 
the canopy. A sub-adult Indian giant 
squirrel, which was resting on a branch, 
jumped down to the ground and started 
to scurry. An adult male of the lion-tailed 
macaque group quickly descended to the 
ground and chased the squirrel for a dis-
tance of about 30 m. He hit the squirrel 
on its head with one swipe, pinned it to 
the ground and carried it off to a tree by 
holding it by the scruff of its neck. It was 
still alive when the monkey started to 
bite its head. In a few seconds, the squir-
rel was dead. The monkey ripped-off the 
skin on its head and started to eat the 
flesh around the neck. None of the other 
group members showed any interest,  
except a sub-adult male who came to the 
tree in which the adult male was present 
and sat in proximity. When the adult 
male finally dropped the carcass, the 
sub-adult male quickly descended to the 
branch from which the carcass hung and 
grabbed it. Not much was left of the 
squirrel, except a few parts of the vis-
cera, half-eaten limbs and tail. 
Faunal prey is an important component 
in the diet of the lion-tailed macaque.  
Although feeding on vertebrates is not 
frequent, there have been sporadic re-
ports of lion-tailed macaques foraging on 
frogs, lizards, bats, small birds, three-
striped squirrels, nestlings of the Indian 
giant squirrel and the large, brown, fly-
ing squirrel11,13,20. There is also one report 
of an unsuccessful attack on a mouse-
deer fawn by the lion-tailed macaque13, 
though it is not clear whether it was an 
attempt to predate upon the deer. While 
feeding on arthropods and smaller prey is 
common among most age-sex classes in 
the lion-tailed macaque, foraging on lar-
ger prey is mainly reported among the 
adult males13. All of the previous inci-
dents suggest that the prey was detected 
at a close range and captured. This tactic 
of capturing of prey – scavenge hunt-
ing – requires least specialized predatory 
skills and energy and is characteristic of 
SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE 
 
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 95, NO. 11, 10 DECEMBER 2008 1536 
omnivorous primates1. Although in the 
present incident the prey was detected at 
a close range, it was different from the 
previous incidents of predation on giant 
squirrel nestlings, because it was the first 
incident in the wild where the monkey 
successfully chased, captured and con-
sumed an animal of such a large size. 
Moreover, the prey was not a nestling 
and hence was not restricted in its 
movements, and was faster than the mon-
key itself.  
 The observations were made on a group 
of lion-tailed macaques in an area where 
there were several individuals of Indian 
giant squirrel. The home range of the 
lion-tailed macaque group being large, it 
overlapped with home ranges of many 
giant squirrels. The macaque group was 
almost always in the home range of any 
giant squirrel in the study area. Some-
times macaques and squirrels were even 
seen on the same tree feeding in pro-
ximity, with little or no aggression. The 
giant squirrels do not give alarm calls 
when they see a group of lion-tailed  
macaques. This suggests that such oppor-
tunistic hunting behaviour occurs infre-
quently. Nevertheless, such sporadic 
incidents throw light upon behavioural 
plasticity and the ability of this endan-
gered macaque to expand the spectrum of 
prey and include large vertebrates such 
as the prey described above. It also has 
implications for such behaviours which 
might have started as predominantly 
adult male activity to develop into a tra-
dition of systematic predation by all 
members of the group, as is described for 
the yellow baboons10. 
 
 
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. We thank the 
Tamil Nadu Forest Department for permission 
to conduct research and support in the field. 
We thank the Wildlife Conservation Society 
India Programme and Indo-US Primate Pro-
ject for funds. 
 
 
Received 18 June 2008; revised accepted 23 
October 2008 
 
H. S. SUSHMA1 
MEWA SINGH2,* 
 
1Wildlife Institute of India,  
Chandrabani,  
Dehradun 248 001, India  
2Biopsychology Laboratory,  
University of Mysore,  
Mysore 570 006, India 
*For correspondence. 
e-mail: mewasingh@bsnl.in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Hunting of Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) by the lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) in the Western Ghats, India

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Hunting of Indian giant squirrel (Ratufa indica) by the lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) in the Western Ghats, India

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