Japanese macaques are unusually cold-hardy primates whose welfare in captivity requires naturalistic social groupings, complex environments, and opportunities for their characteristic winter behavioral adaptations.
Japanese macaque welfare in zoos requires understanding their unusual ecological adaptations and highly complex social lives. They can tolerate cold environments well — forcing them into warm housing may actually impede rather than help their welfare. Social group management is the most critical welfare determinant: appropriate troop compositions, stable matrilineal groups, and sufficient space to allow natural dominance expression and social withdrawal are essential. Facilities that provide access to cold environments, water features for bathing, and complex terrestrial and arboreal environments match these animals' natural behavioral ecology more closely.