At 6: 30 every morning, the Xiangguqing Yunnan Golden Monkey National Park in Tacheng Town is full of excitement. Wenguang Yu, a monkey guard, blew his whistle, woke up the Yunnan golden monkey in the forest loudly, and scattered the pineapples. Dozens of Yunnan golden monkeys roared and jumped down from the Woods to pounce on their favorite food.
In Xiangguqing, Yunnan, there are 28 Lisu monkey guards like Wenguang Yu, all from three Lisu villages at the foot of the mountain. Three years ago, with the support of Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve, Xianggu established a monkey protection team spontaneously organized by local Lisu people to care for and feed these precious Yunnan golden monkeys. "Every day, they should feed two bags of pineapples, two-backed cucumbers, carrots, apples and sumac seeds, which are their favorite foods." Yu Lixin, a 56-year-old monkey guard, looked at the monkey lovingly and said.
As a rare species endemic to China, Yunnan golden monkey is now only distributed in the Yunling Mountains in the Hengduan Mountains in the southern margin of the Himalayas at the junction of Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet provinces. Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve, located in Deqin County and Weixi County of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest Yunnan Province, is the largest Yunnan Golden Monkey National Nature Reserve in China. In recent years, with the continuous improvement of the ecological environment, the number of Yunnan golden monkeys in the reserve has been increasing, and people can get in touch with these "mountain elves" with beautiful red lips and similar human faces at the top of the snow-capped mountains in Shangri-La.
Zhong Tai, who entered the nature reserve in 1983, said that due to the continuous deforestation, the habitat of Yunnan golden monkey has been destroyed rapidly, and the tolerance of Yunnan golden monkey to hunting is extremely small, and poachers are the biggest threat to its survival. There were only more than 500 Yunnan golden monkeys in the mid-1980s, which were once thought to have disappeared. It is even more endangered and rare than giant pandas, and the protection situation is not optimistic.
According to Xie Hongfang, director of the reserve management bureau, after the establishment of the reserve, the state’s attention and investment have greatly improved the forest vegetation and ecological environment, and poaching has basically been eliminated. At the same time, the reserve has also established multi-level protection stations, which can be seen everywhere in the hinterland of the mountains.
"Local people will also spontaneously organize patrols to maintain the living environment of Yunnan golden monkeys." Xie Hongfang feels gratified. Now people’s awareness of protecting Yunnan golden monkeys is very strong. The local people not only won’t hurt them, but also protect them well. When someone is chasing monkeys, they will severely reprimand and stop them in time. Under the joint protection of the government and the people, the number of Yunnan golden monkey in the nature reserve has been increasing, and the population has recovered, from more than 500 when the nature reserve was established in 1983 to about 1300 at present. In 2017, Yunnan golden monkey was also found in the "Tianchi" nature reserve in Dali, and the marginal distribution area of Yunnan golden monkey expanded to the south by nearly 40 kilometers.
Years of hard work have brought Yunnan golden monkey a growing sense of intimacy with people. In the past, Yunnan golden monkeys ran away when they saw people, but now they can sit and look at each other when they see people. Recently, I saw dozens of Yunnan golden monkeys appearing in the trees in the nature reserve. They have black and white fur and lovely looks. Seeing people, they looked around curiously for a few seconds, and then swaggered to the hillside to enjoy their own food. He Xinming, a staff member of Weixi Management Branch of the Nature Reserve, said with a smile: "Five years ago, it was almost impossible to take a close-up photo of Yunnan golden monkey. Because they are very alert, they will slip away when they see people. " Nowadays, a large number of Yunnan golden monkeys come to places close to humans for food, and rangers are in "zero distance" contact with them. Visitors who come here can often capture the clever figure of Yunnan golden monkey with a camera.
