The Jigokudani Yaenkoen park opened in 1964 and since then many thousands of people from around the world have
visited the park to observe the lifestyle of the Japanese Macaque. The Japanese Macaque (Macaca fuscata) is a monkey species
native to northern Japan, and is the most northern-living non-human primate,
surviving winter temperatures of below -15 °C. They have brown-gray fur, a red
face, hands and bottom, and a short tail - and often seem remarkably human
like.
The
monkeys have a body length ranging from 80 to 95 cm. The males weigh
around 10-14 kg while the females are usually around 5.5 kg.
The park is located in the Yokoyu River valley, which flows down from
Shiga Kogen. At an elevation of 850 meters, the area is called Jigokudani
("Hell's Valley") due to the steep cliffs and hot water steaming out from the
earth's surface.
All the
time the monkeys basically just ignore their human watchers and just get on with
whatever it is they want to be doing.
clipped from: www.snowjapan.com 
