Meet the Bonnet Macaques of Satara

During our visit to Kaas, we stayed at the Nivant Resort which is high up on a hill and amidst a small forest in Satara. The views of the city were amazing from this resort, but I loved this place for a chance to meet the Bonnet Macaques.

A bonnet macaque

This is a medium-sized macaque that can be easily identified by its long tail and the peculiar arrangement of hair on their head, that gives an impression of wearing a hat or bonnet. Hence its name – bonnet macaque. They have a dusky brown to golden-yellow body, pointed ears and black lower lip. This species is endemic to South India and feeds on fruits, nuts, seeds, flowers, invertebrates and cereals. They also have a very wide range of gestures and behavior – most common is the lip smacking and grimace. You can read more on them here.

A baby bonnet macaque, Satara

We saw quite big group of them near the resort as they went about their daily business of picking lice, generally walking around, jumping from tree to tree etc etc. But the best was one of them who came near our dining area and wanted to come in and eat the food served.

The macaque that wanted our food

It really behaved like a small human child and tried all kinds of emotional blackmail via facial expressions, tried opening the french windows by sliding the windows, sitting in a sad pose, etc etc.  He made a very interesting photography subject  too  and I caught quite a few of his antics on camera.

Bonnet Macaque- That are his feet that are trying to slide the glass windows

Bonnet Macaque – see his expressions 🙂

Cute, isn’t he?