It is native to South, Central, and Southeast Asia and has the widest geographic range of all non-human primates, occupying a great diversity of altitudes and habitats.

As a result of the rhesus macaque's relatively easy upkeep, wide availability, and closeness to humans anatomically and physiologically, it has been used extensively in medical and biological research.

[7] The Chinese subspecies can be divided as follows: The rhesus macaque is brown or grey in color and has a pink face, which is bereft of fur.

[13] Rhesus macaques are native to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Afghanistan, Vietnam, southern China, and some neighbouring areas.

Inhabiting arid, open areas, rhesus macaques may be found in grasslands, woodlands, and in mountainous regions up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in elevation.

[15] Rhesus macaques are noted for their tendency to move from rural to urban areas, coming to rely on handouts or refuse from humans.

[17] Rhesus monkeys live in patches of forest within agricultural areas, which gives them access to agroecosystem habitats and makes them at ease in navigating through them.

[20] Fossilized isolated teeth and mandible fragments from Tianyuan Cave and a juvenile maxilla from Wanglaopu Cave near Zhoukoudian represent the first recognized occurrence of rhesus macaque fossils in the far north of China, and thus the population of rhesus macaques which lived around Beijing decades ago is believed to have originated from Pleistocene ancestors rather than being human-introduced.

Tooey had been hoping to profit from the boom in jungle adventure stories in film and print media, buying the monkeys to be attractions at his river boat tour.

A population in Titusville, Florida, was featured at the now defunct Tropical Wonderland theme park, which coincidentally was at one time endorsed by Johnny Weissmuller, who had portrayed Tarzan in the aforementioned films.

Most of the captured monkeys tested positive for herpes B virus, which leads wildlife officials to consider the animals a public health hazard.

The species' adaptable nature, generalized diet, and larger size as to reduce the chance of cold stress or predator attack are thought to be reasons for their success.

One infamous individual, named the "Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay", evaded capture for years, inspiring social media posts and a song.

Rhesus macaques living far from water sources lick dewdrops from leaves and drink rainwater accumulated in tree hollows.

[38] It has specialised cheek pouches where it can temporarily store food and also eats invertebrates, including adult and larval insects, spiders, lice, honeycombs, crabs and bird eggs.

With an increase in anthropogenic land changes, the rhesus macaque has evolved alongside intense and rapid environmental disturbance associated with human agriculture and urbanization resulting in proportions of their diet to be altered.

[49] Top-ranking female rhesus monkeys are known to sexually coerce unreceptive males and also physically injure them, biting off digits and damaging their genitals.

Outside of the consortship period, males and females return the prior behavior of not exhibiting preferential treatment or any special relationship.

Male rhesus macaques have been observed to fight for access to sexually receptive females and they suffer more wounds during the mating season.

[65] Conflicts tend to result from rapidly changing agricultural practices, increasing urbanisation, and clearing of woodlands and other territory, pushing macaques into human settlements in the search for resources.

The estimated financial cost to individual farmer households of macaque corn and rice raiding is approximately US$14.9 or 4.2% of their yearly income.

Suggestions to mitigate conflict include "prioritizing forest restoration programs, strategic management plans designed to connect isolated forest fragments with high rhesus macaque population densities, creating government programs that compensate farmers for income lost due to crop-raiding, and educational outreach that informs local villagers of the importance of conservation and protecting biodiversity[68]".

Another strategy that farmers can employ is to plant alternative, buffer crops which are unattractive to monkeys in high-conflict zones, such as along the edges of macaque habitats.

One method is to introduce public education programs as well as restrict visitors to specific viewing platforms, with the goal to minimize physical proximity.

[83] Comparison of rhesus macaques, chimpanzees, and humans revealed the structure of ancestral primate genomes, positive selection pressure and lineage-specific expansions, and contractions of gene families.

Frequent insertions, deletions, changes in the order and number of genes, and segmental duplications near gaps, centromeres and telomeres occurred.

Genes for keratin, which produce hair shafts, were rapidly evolving in all three species, possibly because of climate change or mate selection.

[citation needed] The PKFP gene, important in sugar (fructose) metabolism, is expanded in macaques, possibly because of their high-fruit diet.

In addition to habitat destruction and agricultural encroachment, pet releases of the different species into existing troops are diluting the gene pool and putting its genetic integrity at risk.

This range extension has been caused by human intervention tactics whereby village translocation occurs from urban conflict ridden areas.