Guarding the "Snow Mountain Spirit" Yunnan Golden Monkey

Yunnan golden monkey is a national first-class protected animal, which is mainly distributed in the alpine virgin forests in northwest Yunnan and southeast Tibet. It is known as the "Snow Mountain Spirit" and an endangered species in the red list of the World Conservation Union.

This is the Yunnan golden monkey in Shangri-La Yunnan Golden Monkey National Park, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province (photo taken on March 16).

Around 1980s, hunting and logging destroyed the habitat of Yunnan golden monkey, and the number of monkeys once decreased, so the protection situation was grim. In order to save the endangered Yunnan golden monkey, China established Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve, explored the protection mode of "community condominium", combined protection with the survival and development of surrounding residents, and promoted the recovery growth of Yunnan golden monkey.

This is the Yunnan golden monkey in Shangri-La Yunnan Golden Monkey National Park, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province (photo taken on July 19).

This is the Yunnan golden monkey in Shangri-La Yunnan Golden Monkey National Park, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province (photo taken on March 16).

This is the Yunnan golden monkey in Shangri-La Yunnan Golden Monkey National Park, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province (photo taken on March 16).

The monitoring results of Yunnan Forestry and Grassland Bureau show that after years of efforts, the protection effect of Yunnan golden monkey is obvious. The population of Yunnan golden monkey increased from about 1000 to 1500 in 13 groups in 1996 and 3000 in 18 groups in 2016 to more than 3300 in 23 groups at present.

Since 2019, 13 organizations including Yunnan Forestry and Grassland Bureau, Yunnan Green Environment Development Foundation and Nature Conservancy (TNC) have jointly launched the "Yunnan Golden Monkey Whole Territory Protection Network", trying to establish a multi-party joint protection mechanism, taking actions from patrol monitoring, corridor restoration, community participation, friendly development and public participation, and striving to achieve sustained and healthy growth of Yunnan Golden Monkey population and comprehensive improvement of the health level of its habitat ecosystem.

Source: Yunbao client