"Oh, Earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you." -Thornton Wilder

Sleepless nights inevitably lead to nature documentaries, and this particular clip of Wild China stayed with me for so long I thought I would write about it, so that you also can know what hides high in the mountains of China.

The Hunan (or Yunnan) Snub-Nosed Monkey.
This is one of three species found only in China. The Hunan are found in the Yunling Mountains in southwestern China, the northwester Yunnan Province, and southeastern Tibet.
There are also Golden and the Grey Snub-Nosed but the Hunan is the most endangered of all three.

First impressions suggest a resemblance to Pete Burns (post surgery), Micheal Jackson (also...post surgery) or a character from Zelda. But once you get past their rather shocking appearance you start to realize how remarkable these creatures are.

Not too much is known about them, which fills me with the desire to go Jane Goodall on this forest and become a monkey following nomad. However, they live at higher altitudes than any other primate except for your occasional homo-sapiens at a staggering 9800-14,000ft above sea level.
They feed mainly on lichen and are usually found in very large groups of up to 300 monkeys.
They are under threat because of the usual human population annihilating forests and killing them for food and fur. They also have a low and infrequent birth rate, however they are protected by attempts at various conservation laws that prohibit hunting and tearing down of old-growth forests.

                                                                Photo by: Carmen Lundqvist


I think the following posts will be about the other species of Snub-Nosed monkeys!