The lion-tailed macaques of the Western Ghats are arboreal monkeys, which means they live, eat, and sleep among trees and rarely descend on the forest floor. They need continuous, connected canopies to travel around the forest in search of food and shelter. Due to large scale destruction of forests, and construction of new roads that slice through their habitat, continuous canopies are now broken. Food is scarce. Their search for food brings them close to human habitation, where troop members eat what is available, as quickly as they can. Their home is vulnerable and their survival at risk.

See a photo essay on the lion-tailed macaques here. And read a story on what it is like to spot them in the wild here.