[2][3] This species lives in subtropical forests (mixed deciduous to evergreen) at elevations from 800 to 2,500 m (2,600 to 8,200 ft) above sea level.

[4][5] The fur is well-suited to the species' cold environments, being long, dense and brown on the back, with creamy-buff to grey coloration on the underparts.

In their complex social system, females remain for life in their natal group, but males disperse shortly after their adolescence (at about 8 years old).

Macaque societies are hierarchical, with higher-ranking males getting better access to the resources, namely food and sexually-receptive females.

Studies of Tibetan macaques at Mount Emei and Huangshan Mountains, China, found the average tenure for an alpha male only lasted about one year.

When troop size becomes quite large (in the 40 to 50 range) and competition grows over increasingly stretched resources, some individuals (males, females and juveniles) split from the main group to form a new, smaller group, known as 'fissioning', and move on to a different home range.

This diurnal species spends most of its time on the ground, where it forages for leaves, fruit, grass and, to a lesser extent, flowers, seeds, roots and insects.