Predators and Other Threats
     
                           
             
  The most significant natural predator of the macaques is the lynx. Birds of prey will sometimes attack young monkeys as well. However, the losses incurred by these predators are insignificant in comparison to the threats imposed by human population expansion. Deforestation forces the macaques away from their preferred range areas, into smaller ranges that do not contain enough resources to sustain all troop members (Beacham 1998).  
   
Photograph courtesy of phototravels.net  
Even though the macaques are protected by the Japanese government, poaching is a very real threat because their body parts are used in many folk medicines. Japanese macaques are also occasionally kept as pets, but each pet macaque represents one individual that is not in the wild breeding and raising the next generation of macaques (Beacham 1998).

     
Because they will sometimes feed on cultivated crops, the macaques are also in danger of being killed or wounded by farmers. However, the Japanese government compensates farmers for crops lost to the macaques in order to encourage the preservation of the species. Some farmers will even leave portions of their crops for the macaques to consume (Beacham 1998).

     
                Photograph courtesy of phototravels.nett    
                           
    Japanese macaques do not often kill one another. However, males frequently chase and attack females during the mating season, sometimes wounding them. Males will also attack and injure one another during the mating season, but these attacks do not usually result in death (Enomoto 1981).
      
                           

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