Macaques chill out in hot spas

JAPAN’S snow monkeys are a popular tourist attraction as they soak themselves in hot springs in the country’s northern Nagano region.

It was long assumed the macaques, pictured, were simply warming themselves as temperatures fell below zero.

But experts at the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University discovered that the monkeys are also using the soak as a stress-reliever. Tests on their levels of the hormone glucocorticoid, which rise during times of stress, indicated that stress levels were about 20 per cent lower on average after bathing.

Researcher Rafaela Sayuri Takeshita said: ‘Bathing in hot springs is beneficial not only for people but for Japanese macaques too.’