Golden Snub-nosed Monkey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Golden Snub-nosed Monkey[1]
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Primates Family: Cercopithecidae Genus: Rhinopithecus Species: R. roxellana
Binomial name
Rhinopithecus roxellana Milne-Edwards, 1870

The Golden Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is an Old World monkey in the Colobinae subfamily. It is endemic to a small area in temperate, mountainous forests of central China, primarily around the Sichuan basin. The Chinese name is Sichuan Golden Hair Monkey (川金丝猴). Snow occurs frequently within its range and it can withstand colder average temperatures than any other non-human primates.^[3] Its diet varies markedly with the seasons, but it is primarily an herbivore with lichens being its main food source. It is diurnal and largely arboreal, spending some 97% of their time in the canopy. There are three subspecies. Population estimates range from 8,000 to 15,000 and it is threatened by habitat loss.^[2]

[edit] Range

The distribution range of Golden Snub-nosed Monkey is limited to the mountains in four provinces in China: Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Hubei. In Gansu, the range include two mountain ranges: Min (岷) Mountains and Qionlai (邛崃) Mountains. In Shaanxi, the range is limited to the southern slope of Qinling Mountains. In Hubei, the range is limited to Shennongjia (神农架) Mountains. In Sichuan, the range includes Wu (巫) Mountains, Min (岷) Mountains and Qionlai (邛崃) Mountains, Daxue (大雪) Mountains, Xiaoliang (小凉) Mountains. Although these protected areas totaled more than 2,500 km² (965 sq mi), the actual range fit for the survival of the species is much smaller because the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey heavily depends on dense forests. Due to illegal logging and habitat loss to environmental destruction, the dense forests critical to the survival of the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey in these protected regions only consisted of one fifth of the total area.^{[citation needed]}

In Shennongjia (神农架) Mountains, the distribution range of the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey is only limited to three counties: Fang (房), Xinshan (兴山) and Badong (巴东) counties. There are only four groups, with the largest group sizing around 120 monkeys. There are around 53 groups scattered on the southern slope of Qinling Mountains, and the small groups usually have around 50 monkeys, and 100 for large groups, except one group, the largest with 300 monkeys. In eastern Sichuan, there are only 2 or 3 groups scattered in the Wu (巫) Mountains, totaling less than 100. The size of the group is larger for those scattered in the border region of Sichuan and Gansu, ususlly around 100 to 200.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Reproduction

The Golden Snub-nosed Monkey can mate year round, but August, September and October are the peak of mating. After a gestation period of six months, babies are often born in March or April, but sometimes in February and May. Females mature sexually at 4—5 years old, 7 years for males. Although there are more males than females in any groups, males leave the group when becoming adult and the adult male to female ratio is nearly always 1:2. Adult male averaging 68 cm (26.8 in) in size, with another 68.5 cm (27 in) for the tail.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Subspecies

There are three subspecies of this monkey:^[1]

• Moupin Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana roxellana
• Qinling Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana qinlingensis
• Hubei Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana hubeiensis

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Golden snub nosed monkey in Maximum Card from China

This primate-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.