Crab eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis) is found from southern Indo-China and Burma to Borneo and east into the Philippines, and then south to Timor in Indonesia. The Wilson-Reeder mammal check list of 2005 lists M. irus and M. cynomolgos as belonging in the fascicularis species group, but they do not show them as valid species. This wide ranging species has several subspecies, perhaps some of which should be raised to full species status. Wilson-Reeder list 8 subspecies. The image in the Torstar primate book shows a pale grey species with a long tail.

The macaques (genus Macaca) comprise an Old World genus of monkeys. There were about ten species in the genus but that has been increased to 21 species in recent literature. This genus is found from southern Spain (Gibraltar) east into Afghanistan, India, Taiwan, Japan, China, and south into the Philippines and Indonesia. These primates have a length less tail of about 14 to 30 inches. These primates seem able to adjust to mankind and several species are still quite common. However, a few have population threats. Redmond breaks this genus up into three different groups.

Six well known species are listed:

Species - - - - -Common Name - - - - - - Location
Macaca fascicularis - (Crab Eating Macaque) -Indonesia
Macaca fuscata - (Japanese Macaque) - Japan
Macaca mulatta - (Resus Monkey) - India and surrounding area
Macaca radiata - (Bonnet Macaque) - India
Macaca silenus - (Lion Tailed Macaque) - South India
Macaca sylvanus - (Barbary Ape) - Gibraltar and Spain

Baboons, drills, mangabeys, macaques (including the Papio, Cercocebus, and Macaca genera) are a group of Old World Monkeys (Subfamily Papiinae) that are found in both Africa and the Indo-Australian region. There are about thirty-eight species of which about half are found in Africa. The Papio genus is usually without tails; the Cercocebus genus has tails.

The Wilson-Reeder 2005 world checklist of mammals lists the following genera that we include in this group: Cercocebus (6 species), Lophocebus (3 species), Macaca (21 species), and Mandrillus (2 species). Papio (5 species), and Theropithecus (1 species) can be placed in this group. This totals 37 species. (In some modern lists, this subfamily is now part of the larger Cercopithecinae.)

Old World Monkeys and Baboons (Cercopithecidae) form a large family with about 132 species of which about half are found in Africa and the other half are found in the Oriental and Indo-Australian region. This family has seen numerous new species recently due to raising subspecies to full species status. By grouping related species here, this family has been arbitrarily divided into four subfamilies to facilitate study.

The 2005 Wilson-Reeder World Check list of Mammals lists 132 species in this group. They do not divide this group into subfamilies in the beginning tables. However, they do divide this group into two subfamilies in the list. Ian Redmond in his Primate Family Tree also divides this family into two groups: Cercopithecinae and Colobinae.

Lemurs, Monkeys, Apes, and Man are combined into the single order of Primates. This order contains about 390 different species. The Wilson Reeder 2005 world check list of mammals lists 376 species. (They did not include the newer order Scandentia of tree shrews with its 20 species.)

Ian Redmond presents a taxonomy tree that involves the order, two sub-orders, several infraorders, several superfamilies, several families, and several subfamilies. We support this complicated and valuable analyses of the primate order. However, our mission is to help identify species, and we have reduced the five intermediate taxonomic levels between order and genus to two levels to facilitate a quick taxonomic drill down.

Mammals (Class Mammalia), together with the birds, are among the youngest of the classes of animals. In species count, mammals number about fifty-one hundred, trailing reptiles (approximately fifty-five hundred), fish (approximately eighteen thousand), and birds (approximately eighty-six hundred).

There are three sub-types of mammals:

monotremes, the most primitive:
Develop in reptilian-like eggs and suckle milk emerging (i.e., spiny anteater, duckbilled platypus)
marsupials
Newborn emerges very underdeveloped and continue to mature in a pouch on its mother's abdomen (i.e., opossums, koala, kangaroo)
placental
Embryo develops within the uterus of the female and is dependent on a placenta for nutrition and waste removal (i.e., humans, lions, monkeys)

About sixty-five million years ago, the Tertiary era produced thirty-five orders of mammals. Of this number, eighteen have survived to represent Earth's most diversified as well as its most highly developed classification of animals.

Extinction of mammals is fast becoming a serious issue. Duff and Lawson present a list of forty-one extinct species that reached extinction prior to 1800. These forty-one species are not acknowledged in the counts of the various families. Duff and Lawson also present a list of forty-six species including three gazelles, one zebra, one seal, one deer, and one wolf that have probably gone extinct since 1800. These forty-six species are included in the family counts. Science is adding about forty to fifty new species a year to the list. Many of these are the result of divisions of prior species; some are recent discoveries.

Mammals owe their survival to adaptive capabilities that include the ability to exploit whatever sources of food are available to them, as well as their ability to adjust to various climes. Food specialization influenced evolution to such a great extent that the teeth structure can and has been used to provide extensive information on the food needs and various lifestyles of extinct species.

Despite the vast diversity among mammals in terms of size, habitats and adaptations, they share without exception many characteristics such as:

a. body hair
b. mammary glands
c. certain skull characteristics
d. four limbs that permit speed
e. parallel not perpendicular limbs
f. compartmentalized internal organs
g. a four-chambered heart and pulmonary circulation

Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.

Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

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