The breeding populations of wild Japanese macaques in the Hyogo prefectural area cover lower parts of the cool-temperate zone, avoiding human activities. The macaques survive mainly in 2 narrowly distributed vegetation types: Castaneo-Quercetum crispulae and Quercetum variabiliserratae. Estimation of potential natural vegetation shows that the macaques are potentially distributed in most parts in the area, because of the potential wide distribution of evergreen broad-leaved forests. The comparison of the present and the potential distribution suggests that the human effects, such as the expansion of secondary forests, had modified the macaques' spatial distribution pattern from wide distribution depending on evergreen broad-leaved forests to narrow and patchy one depending on deciduous broad-leaved forests in the past in this study area.

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The mitogen (PHA and ConA)-induced lymphocyte blastogenesis was determined with 15 obese cynomolgus monkeys who were classified into spontaneously occurred obese with hyperlipamic and/or diabetes. There was no difference in the blastogenesis induced by PHA and ConA between obese and normal monkeys when their lymphocytes were cultured in medium supplemented with fetal calf serum. The blastogenesis of obese monkey lymphocytes, however, were significantly lower than that of normal monkey in the case of culturing them in the medium supplemented with autoserum. The wide variation was observed in blastogenesis of normal monkey lymphocytes when they were cultured with obese monkey serum, and some of obese monkey sera significantly inhibited blastogenic response of normal monkey lymphocytes. These results indicate that the responsiveness to mitogensin obese monkey lymphocytes might be normal but their serum might inhibit blastogenesis. Then, the relationship was determined between inhibitory effect of serum and contents of several biochemical markers associated with obese. The significant negative correlation was observed between inhibitory effect and total cholesterol as well as low-density cholesterol (VLDLC+LDLC). This result indicates that the level of serum LDLC+VLDLC possibly correlates with the inhibitory effect, and the increase of serum LDLC+VLDLC with obese might depress the lymphocyte function, resulting in the decrease of immune function in obese patients.

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Using a principal components analysis on 17 logarithmically transformed cranial measurements, the sex differences of cranial size (SDCS) are calculated for five species of Sulawesi macaques, 0.559 in M. maurus, 0.545 in M. tonkeana, 0.514 in M. brunnescens, 0.438 in M. hecki and 0.331 in M. nigra, and are compared with those of non-Sulawesi macaques. The SDCS of Sulawesi macaques is highest in M. maurus, and decreases in accordance with the geographical distance from the species. The range of SDCS among Sulawesi macaques (0.559-0.331) is large and comparable to the range among non-Sulawesi macaques (0.598-0.329). The small SDCS of M. nigra is interpreted as a derived trait for Sulawesi macaques. To explain the small SDCS of M. nigra, it is inferred that in M. nigra as well as in M. hecki the level of male intrasexual competition is reflected in canine size rather than cranial size.

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In the previous research in 1993, three of the authors found that some troops of wild Japanese macaques were provisionized by tourists, around the road in the western forest of Yakushima Island, south of Kyushu, Japan. Again in 1995, we conducted a research with the same methods in the same area. Here we reported the results of 1995 and compared them with those of 1993.
We surveyed the area along the road of 19.2km, passing through the forest. We set eight stations along the road as survey units, with a mean length of 2.4km. Each station was surveyed for two days. Each of us walked slowly in the station and searched troops of monkeys. When the observer found the monkeys on or near the road, he or she began observation session for maximum of 30 minutes. At the end of observation session, the observer began to search another troop.
During the observation session, we recorded the activities of monkeys and conducted“orange tests”. In the “orange tests”, we showed an orange to a monkey and recorded its response. If the monkey accessed to the orange, it was determined as provisionized.
Percentages of provisionized monkeys were significantly different among the stations. However, no significant difference was found between the results of 1993 and 1995. Numbers of traffic passing through the road per day was 138.5, which was larger by 40 than in 1993. Among the traffic in 1995, at least 60% was due to tourists.
The numbers of provisionized monkeys did not increased distinctively during the two years. However, numbers of tourists visiting the area apparently increased and the percentages of provisionized monkeys increased in some of the stations. Therefore, we should continue to monitor the provisionized monkeys and to make efforts to stop tourists from feeding monkeys.

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Methods for reliably assessing personality in primate species will be extremely useful for researchers interested in the biological basis, evolution, or socio-ecological significance of personality. Subjective assessment has been a popular method for rating primate personality, but the ambiguities in the definitions of adjectives to be rated and the inconsistency in the lists of those adjectives among the different research groups has made comparison and integrated understanding of accumulated results quite difficult.
To avoid the above intrinsic problems of subjective assessment method, personality traits must be scored based on behavioral measures (in either natural or experimental settings) rather than having observers subjectively rating the animals based on their impressions. The former method may be called objective assessment.
In objective assessment of personality, validity of the selected measures must always be considered and the effort to raise it is required. There are four kinds of validity; content validity, predictive validity, concurrent validity, and construct validity. Each type of validity can be measured and raised by following certain procedures.
High validity is necessary to ensure that the selected behavioral measure actually represents what is supposed to be measured. For example, Mehlman et al. (1994) claim that in rhesus monkeys the relative frequency of long leaps is a measure of loss of impulse control. But without checking its validity, universal utilization of this measure as a representation of impulsiveness must be avoided, for the measure may merely be a reflection of individual difference in, for example, motor ability.
Future researches on primate personality should employ objective assessment method rather than subjective assessment method, with careful consideration to its validity.

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Most studies about mental abilities in nonhuman primates have been held in laboratory conditions. Considering the highy developed social organization of the primate species, however, it is necessary to study about their mental abilities in free-ranging conditions. Numerous studies have been made on natural vocal communication of nonhuman primates. Results of the studies tell mental abilities of nonhuman primates as well as functional significance of vocalizations in their lfe. This paper reviews some studies about nonhuman primate vocal communication and shows examples of mental abilities emerged in these studies, which is recognition of other individuals, perception of quantity, understanding of causal reasoning, categorization, and ability of deception.

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Fifty-one species, 101 food items for woody plants, and 15 species, 23 food items for herbaceous plants were listed as food eaten by Japanese monkeys in Kinkazan Island which belong to cooltemperate regions. The data on the proportion of time spent feeding on all each food items in each half-month were also shown in the list. Such basic data on food habits of non-human primates has little scientific news value but are supposed to be still valuable for beginners of animal ecologists and review workers.

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