Ubud Monkey forest is located just at the southern part of Ubud Center. The monkeys within the Sacred Monkey Forest of Padangtegal Ubud are commonly called long-tailed macaques. Their scientific name is Macaca fascicuiaris. Macaques are found throughout Southeast Asia and many species of macaques live successfully in areas that are heavily utilized by humans. On Bali, there are Balinese long-tailed macaque troops (populations) that live in areas where they have little to no contact with humans and troops that come into contact with humans on a regular basis. However, despite the fact that many species of macaques thrive in areas that are heavily utilized by humans, there is evidence that the viability of Balinese long-tailed macaques (the ability of macaques to continue to thrive) may be dependent upon the conservation of Bali's forested areas.

Within long-tailed macaque societies, females are typically born into and remain with a single troop for life. In contrast, adult and sub-adult males may migrate between troops (young adult males typically leave their natal troop between the ages of 4 to 8 years). In order for a migrating adult or sub-adult male to be accepted into a new troop, migrating males must align themselves with a troops' females and be accepted by those females. Therefore, long-tailed macaque societies or troops are made up of 'matrilines' ('matri' is a root word that means 'mother').
In fact, within the Sacred Monkey Forest, there are 4 distinct troops. Tourists tend to have a difficult time identifying the Sacred Monkey Forest's long-tailed macaque troops. One reason for this is that the area(s) that each of the troops primarily occupy within the boundaries of the Sacred Monkey Forest changes over time.