Reserve ensures survival of rare monkeys

Dedicated rangers are helping to ensure that one of China's most endangered species is flourishing. Zhang Wenfang and Li Yingqing report from Kunming.

The number of endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys is rising, thanks to growing public awareness and concrete action, according to experts at a nature reserve.

"On Jan 29, Xiangguqing village welcomed its first Yunnan snub-nosed monkey baby born in the Year of the Rabbit," announced Lai Jiandong, head of the wildlife protection station at the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in northwestern Yunnan province, in a WeChat post earlier this year.

The post was accompanied by a video clip showing the mother in the woods, holding her newborn with one hand as she picked up peanuts with the other.

"This marks an auspicious start (to the breeding season)," Lai wrote.

When the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey breeding season ended in late May, Lai was pleased to see that the monkeys in the village had given birth to 12 infants, bringing their total population to about 80.

"It is also a good sign for the reproductive activities of many other monkey troops who live deeper in the mountain's forests," Lai said.

Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys inhabit the mountainous forests of the southwestern province and the neighboring Tibet autonomous region, with most of them being found in the Baima reserve. Xiangguqing, in Yunnan's Dechen Tibetan autonomous prefecture, is the only place where people can observe the monkeys in close proximity.

Over the decades, the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, one of world's most endangered primates, has been saved from extinction. According to a survey conducted in 2017-18, the population had risen to more than 3,800, while in the 1980s the monkey was rarely seen.