Fossil and Archaeological Remain Records of Japanese Macaques (Macaca fuscata)

Remains of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) have been reported from more than 200 localities in the mainland of Japan. The Pleistocene fossil records of Japanese macaques clearly indicates that they had become indigenous to the Japanese islands before the arrival of Japanese Paleolithic humans, but there is no direct evidence to show the relationship between Japanese macaques and humans in the Pleistocene. Japanese macaques were one of the targets for human diets in the early Holocene, based on the records of remains and bone artifacts from many Jomon shell mounds. The habitat distribution of Japanese macaques has not changed drastically through the Holocene, while morphological variation in dental size was observed in some local populations. Future studies will focus on clarifying if the size variation of Japanese macaques is due to natural phenomena or to human actions.