Endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkey.
The number of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti), an endangered species considered to be one of China’s national treasures like the panda, has been increasing continually over the past few years, according to xinhuanet.com.
The Yunnan snub-nosed monkey has been included in the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of threatened species.
Since 1994, they have increased by at least 750 and now number more than 2,500, said Long Yongcheng, who has long been committed to researching and protecting the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey. Long is the chief of the primate expert team under the China Zoological Society and chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy in China.
“This animal will at least not be extinct,” Long said.
The Yunnan snub-nosed monkey is only distributed in a narrow habitat covering an area of 20,000 square kilometers between the Jinsha River and Lancang River. The government has invested more than 200 million yuan annually over the past two years to protect the monkey’s habitat in natural and artificial public welfare forests in Deqin, Weixi, Yulong of Lijiang and Lanping in northwestern Yunnan, said Zhong Mingchuan, deputy chief of Wildlife Protection and Management Office under the Forestry Department of Yunnan Province.
Studies show that thanks to the expansion of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey’s habitat, they have 30 more varieties of food today than in the past. Experts theorize that the rescue and protection efforts relating to the monkey have achieved material results.
Nevertheless, Long said that more efforts are still required to step up the protection of small-scale Yunnan snub-nosed monkey groups that are not under prioritized for preservation in order to prevent the extinction of these “small-scale gene banks.” This also requires more community residents, under the support from the government, to proactively participate in protection efforts.
By People’s Daily Online
