Well after a gruelling twenty four hours climbing the highest peak in Scotland, England and Wales we come to Chinese New Year, more specifically the Year of the Monkey. Last week’s animal, the Bowmouth Guitar Fish is definitely not a fan of this holiday although I hope you guys enjoy the new year and this issue.

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Issue #107 – Golden Snub-nosed Monkey

Kingdom – Animalia

Phylum – Chordata

Class – Mammalia

Order – Primates

Family – Cercopithecidae

Genus – Rhinopithecus

Species – roxellana

Related Species – The Golden Snub-nosed Monkey is one of five species found in the genus Rhinopithecus known colloquially as Snub-nosed Monkeys (1)

Range

Year of the Monkey

The Golden Snub-nosed Monkey is a medium sized primate with long shaggy golden fur across its belly and back, with silver fur on the shoulders and tail. Female Snub-nosed monkeys have darker fur and are around 50% lighter in weight than the male. The nose of this particular species of monkey are flattened and set back into the face with wide nostrils, possibly to keep themselves warm in their cold mountain homes. In addition to using their noses for detecting smell, the Snub-nosed Monkey also uses their nostrils to produce sounds to communicate with each other.

Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys are predominantly herbivorous, feeding on bark and lichen in the winter and fruit and leaves in the summer. The majority of foraging is done in large trees to avoid the attentions from predators such as Grey Wolves (Canis lupus), Leopards (Panthera paradus) and Northern Goshawk (Acciptier gentillis), all of whom feed on the adult and juvenile monkeys (2). Foraging occurs in same sex groups, with male Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys staying on the periphery of the groups on the lookout for predators and other danger.

Breeding occurs in October just before winter arrives, with the young being born six months later between March and June. While combat over mates between males is not uncommon, most of the sexual selection occurs between females, with the alpha female getting first pick of the males, followed by the other adult females. Sexual maturity occurs at five years in females, and seven years in males (3), suggesting a fairly long life as long as they can evade predation and environmental dangers.

Five to Save: #10 Primates

For a long time; tool use, recreational sex, cultural learning and even murder were considered the traits that made us separate from the other animals on this planet. More recently it was discovered that these traits are found in wild animals. Sadly the brutish view of the natural world exhibited by some humans continues despite how similar we are to our simian cousins, almost making the word primate synonymous to the word ‘critically endangered’.

Crested Capuchin (Cebus robustus) Status: Endangered

Threats: Exotic Pet-Trade – Capuchin monkeys of all kinds are well known to the public as the classic movie monkey. Capture from the wild (both alive and dead) as well as the destruction of their unique Atlantic Rainforest for agricultural land has reduced numbers despite areas being large areas of forest being preserved as biological reserves.

Javan Gibbon (Hylobates moloch) Status: Endangered

Threats: Habitat Destruction – The forests of Indonesia, despite being among the oldest of the world’s rainforest, is one of the most rapidly declining in the world. As well as the declining population (around 1000 wild individuals remaining) the remaining forest of Java is fragmented, effectively fragmenting this remaining population resulting in the increased chance of a genetic bottleneck later on in the species future.

Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) Status: Endangered

Threats: Overhunting – The largest of the monkey species, the Mandrill population is in drastic decline due to the quantity and quality of meat available from just one of these monkeys. Coupled with the species constant calling to each other and colourful appearance and the Mandrill is considered easy prey for the hunters that supply the bush-meat trade.

Red Shanked Douc (Pygathrix nemaeus) Status: Endangered

Threats: War Pollution – While habitat destruction and hunting are contributing to the Red Shanked Douc’s endangerment, the initial threat came from the US Armies campaign of fire bombing and spreading defoliant over the Vietnamese forests that the monkey lives in.

Spectral Tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) Status: Vulnerable

Threats: Pollution – One of the most primitive of primates, the Spectral Tarsier is threatened by land clearance as well as the poisoning of insect species in an attempt by the Indonesia Government to control Mosquito populations. In addition Tarsiers of all kinds are highly sought after by the pet-trade, despite the animals generally suffering when kept in captivity.

Bibliography

1 - www.arkive.org

2 - Yiming, Li (July 2007). "Terrestriality and tree stratum use in a group of Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys". Primates 48 (3): 197–207

3 - Zhang, Peng, Watanabe, Kunio, Li, Baoguo, Tan, Chia L (October 2006). "Social Organization of Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithcus roxellana) in the Qinling Mountains, Central China". Primates 47 (4): 374–38

Picture References

1 - http://cdn1.arkive.org/media/69/69D2A501-C710-47A6-A7E5-0C84267CAC7A/Presentation.Large/Golden-snub-nosed-monkey-stripping-leaves.jpg

2 - http://www.buzzle.com/images/animal-kingdom/monkeys/golden-snub-nosed-monkey-range.jpg

3 - http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/naturelibrary/images/ic/credit/640x395/s/sn/snub-nosed_monkey/snub-nosed_monkey_1.jpg

4 -https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Tarsius_tarsier_Tandurusa_zoo.JPG

And there we have it, the Year of the Goat is gone, and the Year of the Monkey is here. Next week we look at an armoured shore dweller with eyes of stone. But until then critic, comment and suggest future issues as well as making sure you check past issues in Impurest’s Bestiary.

新年快乐

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