Editing Japanese macaque (section)

{{Short description|Only nonhuman primate in Japan}}
{{Expand Japanese|topic=scitech|ニホンザル|date=August 2024}}
{{Redirect|Snow monkey|the Japanese train service named "SnowMonkey"|Nagano Electric Railway 2100 series}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Japanese Snow Monkey (Macaque) Mother Grooms Her Young.jpg
| image_caption = A Japanese macaque mother [[social grooming|grooming]] her child
| status = LC 
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn">{{cite iucn |author=Watanabe, K. |author2=Tokita, K. |date=2020 |title=''Macaca fuscata'' |volume=2020 |page=e.T12552A195347803 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T12552A195347803.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Macaca
| species = fuscata
| authority = [[Edward Blyth|Blyth]], 1875<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Blyth|first1=Edward|title=Catalogue of the Mammals and Birds of Burma|journal=The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal|date=1875|volume=44|issue=II. Extra Number|page=6|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38675006}}</ref>
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision = ''Macaca fuscata fuscata''<br/>
''[[Yakushima macaque|Macaca fuscata yakui]]''
| range_map = Japanese Macaque area.svg
| range_map_caption = Japanese macaque range
}}

The '''Japanese macaque''' ('''''Macaca fuscata'''''), also known as the '''snow monkey''', is a terrestrial [[Old World monkey]] species that is native to [[Japan]]. Colloquially, they are referred to as "snow monkeys" because some live in areas where snow covers the ground for months each year – no other non-human [[primate]] lives farther north, nor in a colder climate.<ref>[http://myoko-nagano.com/snow_monkeys/ Jigokudani Monkey Park, Nagano: Explore the Heart of Japan]</ref> Individuals have brownish grey fur, pinkish-red faces, and short tails. Two subspecies are known.<ref name=MSW3>{{MSW3 Groves|pages=162|id=12100545}}</ref>

In Japan, the species is known as '''''Nihonzaru''''' (ニホンザル, a combination of ''Nihon'' 日本 "Japan" + ''saru'' 猿 "monkey") to distinguish it from other primates, but the Japanese macaque is very familiar in Japan—as it is the only species of monkey in Japan—so when Japanese people simply say ''saru'', they usually have the Japanese macaque in mind.