Japanese Monkeys Jump over Drainage Ditch Full of Snowmelt in the Spring Forest

In spring, snowmelt accumulated in a forest drainage ditch, forming a shallow seasonal pool about 2 m wide. A troop of Japanese monkeys (aka snow monkey; Macaca fuscata fuscata, family Cercopithecidae) roaming around the forest floor. They jumped over a forest drainage ditch filled with snowmelt water one after another. Some of them used a leafless shrub (unidentified) in the ditch as an intermediate stepping stone to jump over the wide ditch (around 2m in width). The moments of their jump were replayed at 3x slow-motion. You can also see some monkeys drinking snowmelt water at the shore of the ditch. Note that an adult female Japanese macaque curiously sniffed at a yellow ripe pepo of Chinese cucumber (Trichosanthes kirilowii var. japonica, family Cucurbitaceae) which had dropped from the vine onto the forest floor beside a communal latrine of Japanese raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes viverrinus, family Canidae) in the windbreak forest of Japanese red-cedar (Cryptomeria japonica, family Cupressaceae). And a juvenile monkey joined her and curiously touched the yellow fruit with its right hand. A moment later, the yellow fruit of Chinese cucumber vanished, along with the two monkeys. Hence the Japanese monkey presumably fed on the dropped pepo of Chinese cucumber. (I’ve seen leftovers with teeth marks) When they defecate later, undigested seeds would be dispersed somewhere with the fertilizer. Thus the Japanese monkey is thought to help the seed dispersal of the Chinese cucumber by eating the ripe fruit (pepo). Captured with my new trailcam in the cloudy midmorning (around 7:40 AM) of early-April 2025 in Japan. The air temperature was 6 degrees Celsius. For a full story (text in Japanese); https://sigma-nature-vlog.blogspot.com/2026/07/blog-post_127.html