A rare northern pig-tailed macaque has been rescued from the Baikka Beel area of Sreemangal in Moulvibazar. The monkey had been held with an iron chain, and being kept on an open rooftop, it fell ill from the cold.

On receiving the news, the Sreemangal Wildlife and Nature Conservation Division rescued it at 8pm on Tuesday (1 February) and took it for care at the Jamki Chhara rescue centre next to Lawachhara National Park in Kamalganj.

Khoyab Mia, a security guard at Baikka Beel, said the monkey had been bothering visiting tourists for several days, and it had been tied on the roof of the Baikka Beel tourist tower since Monday. They could not report it because they did not have the forest department's phone number.

Sajal Deb, director of the Bangladesh Wildlife Service Foundation, confirmed the species to Jagonews24 from photographs. He said it is known locally by names including keshorwala singha banor, kulu banor, ulubandor and chhotoleji banor.

He said the northern pig-tailed macaque is rare in Bangladesh and endangered worldwide. It belongs to the family Cercopithecidae, and its scientific name is Macaca leonina.

The monkey measures 40 to 60 cm, with an 18 to 25 cm tail, and weighs 4.5 to 12 kg. Its short tail curls upward like a pig's, and the group leader has a lion-like mane. It is active by day and lives both in trees and on the ground, eating fruit, leaves, insects, crabs and chicks. It breeds from March to June and gives birth to a single young after 162 to 186 days of pregnancy. It usually lives 10 to 12 years.

Shahidul Islam, range officer of the Sreemangal Wildlife and Nature Conservation Division, told Jagonews24 that the monkey was shivering from the cold wave and rain at night. "We rescued it sick from Baikka Beel and treated it at the Jamki Chhara wildlife care centre in Kamalganj. Once it recovers, it will be released in Lawachhara National Park," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.