Primatologist enlists hunters to save snub-nosed monkeys in Yunnan
Print Edition
More than 20 years ago, Long Yongcheng was an entymologist studying insect ecology in Yunnan Province when he came upon a street vendor selling skeletons of golden snub-nosed monkeys.
He was shocked and distressed to see the bones of the elusive, graceful primates he occasionally glimpsed in his work in the high-elevation forests. They were “first-class” protected animals, but that didn’t mean much.
“When I saw that scene, I suddenly felt that I had found my purpose and thought only I could save those precious animals. That’s how my careeer started. It was like a rush of blood in my head,” he told Shanghai Daily in an e-mail interview.
That was in 1986, and ever since then, Long has made it his life’s work to protect the endangered snub-nosed monkeys, commonly called the Yunnan golden monkey. It has both golden, gray, white and dark fur and lives at higher elevations than any monkey anywhere in the world, 3,000 to 4,500 meters. It can be seen in the snow.
Now a primatologist and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Long spent 10 years mapping the distribution of the monkeys in northwestern Yunnan and the southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region.
He launched the Golden Monkey Program jointly with the Chinese government, the Nature Conservancy and Conservation International.
The endangered monkey was on the verge of extinction due to hunting and habitat loss.
The population is recovering. According to the Yunnan Forestry Department, the number of the monkeys has risen to around 1,000, around 60 percent more than a decade ago.
Long has made a special effort to talk to hunters and enlist their support as guides and animal protectors. He has appealed to the government to provide living assistance so that poor people are not forced to poach.
Long also works with various animal protection groups to establish systems for tracing, monitoring and management of wildlife.
“The situation of wildlife protection (in the country) is not satisfactory. There’s is much hue and cry but little is done,” he said. “Lack of funds makes it hard to develop practical programs for wildlife protection.”
Yunnan Province, for example, was once a “paradise of biodiversity,” including many primates. Forests once covered 400,000 square kilometers but today they cover less than 30,000 sqkm, he said.
After the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yunnan is becoming one of the least biodiverse areas in the world, Long said. “But the crisis has not roused enough concern from both the government and the people.”
By protecting the monkeys, he hopes the larger ecological environment and original forests can be preserved in the area where the Nujiang, Lancang and Jinsha rivers flow in parallel.
Primates used to roam the forests throughout southern and southeastern China, not only Yunnan.
“The perishing of primates indicates the perishing of the whole ecological system of forests. This in turn indicates higher possibilities of natural disasters, such as droughts and floods,” he said.
As a student, Long didn’t think of working with animals as a career. He preferred science and math. When he chose his college major in 1978, he thought zoology (“dong wu xue”) meant “exercise physiology” (“yun dong wu li xue”). “That’s how I ended up working with animals,” he said. “When I graduated my dream was to research insect population ecology. I thought the golden monkey was ‘just a monkey’.”
Because of lack of research funding, he had to stop his primate work from 1997 to 2000, but in late 2000 the US-based Nature Conservancy started a biodiversity project in Yunnan. The snub-nosed monkeys were key protection targets. He resumed his career.
“To be honest, I expend more energy and feelings on the snub-nosed monkeys in Yunnan than on my wife and son. I regard them as my actual children,” he added.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
