Golden snub-nosed monkey
Golden snub-nosed monkey | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Primates |
Suborder: | Haplorhini |
Infraorder: | Simiiformes |
Family: | Cercopithecidae |
Genus: | Rhinopithecus |
Species: | R. roxellana
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Binomial name | |
Rhinopithecus roxellana A. Milne-Edwards, 1870
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Golden snub-nosed monkey range |
The golden snub-nosed monkey
Snow occurs frequently within its range, and it can withstand colder average temperatures better than any other non-human primate.
Taxonomy
Biologists presently identify three subspecies of this monkey,
- Moupin golden snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana roxellana. This subspecies is found in the mountainous areas flanking the Xiaoxiangling ranges of south-central Sichuan. Smaller groups are also found just north of Sichuan border, in the border counties of Gansu (Wen County; about 800 individuals in eight troops) and Shaanxi (Ningqiang County, about 170-200 individuals in one or two troops).[1]
- Qinling golden snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana qinlingensis. According to an estimate published in 2001, this subspecies included some 3,800-4,000 individuals (about half of them adults) in 39 in Qinling Mountains are separated from the more southern Min–Daba Mountains belt by the wide and comparatively densely populated Han River valley.[9]
- Hubei golden snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana hubeiensis. Members of this subspecies reside in the Daba Mountains (in particular, their Shennongjia section) of the westernmost Hubei (Shennongjia Forest District, Fang, Xingshan and Badong counties) and the northeastern Chongqing Municipality.[1][a] According to a 1998 estimate, the population included 600–1,000 individuals in five to six troops.[1] In 2005, the management of the Shennongjia Nature Reserve reported that the population had grown between 1990 and 2005 from 500 to over 1200.[10]
Physical characteristics
The adult and subadult golden snub-nosed monkey is sexually dimorphic.
Adult males (estimated at over 7 years of age) have large bodies covered with very long, golden
Subadult males (estimated at 5–7 years of age) have a similar sized body as the fully developed male adult, but have a more slender body. The golden guard hairs on the cape are short and sparse, and their median brown crests show microbanding, while also turning from a brown color.[5]
Adult females (estimated at over 5 years of age) are smaller in size and are about half the size of adult males. The dorsum, crown to nape, cape, arms and outer thighs are brown to deep brown in some of the older females.[5] However, golden guard hairs are also present on the back and cape area, but they are shorter in length than in the males. The brown crest shows microbanding. Their breasts and nipples are large and easily visible which is also useful for identification. After pregnancy, it is common to observe infants and newborns hanging beneath the abdomen of females when they are climbing or walking.[5] They are usually between 47 cm and 52 cm and weigh about 9.4 kg.[11]
Subadult females (estimated at 3–4 years old) are smaller than adult females and are about two-thirds the size. The body hair is brown, gradually turning golden but lacking the golden guard hairs. Their median brown crest also shows microbanding. Their breasts and nipples are also not as large as they are in adult females.[5]
Juveniles (ranging from at least 1 year of age to 3 years old) are quite small, being less than two-thirds the size of adult females. Their body hair is light brown, gradually turning reddish gold. The rest of their body (dorsum, crown to nape, cape, arms and outer thighs) hair is brown. Golden hairs in the dorsum or cape area are not recognizable nor is the median brown crest present in subadult to adult females and males.[5] Sexual discrimination is difficult because their external genital organs are underdeveloped.
Infants (estimated at 3 months to 1 year old) are light brownish gray or light brown, appearing white in sunlight. They are often observed playing with juveniles or other infants, but are noted to spend most of their time beside their mothers or sucking milk.[5] They are also observed clinging from the front of their mothers (primarily the lower abdomen) for protection, feeding, and nurturing. Their sex of the individual cannot be distinguished at this point of time as well as in Newborns.
Newborn babies (estimated at less than 3 months of age) are dark to light gray. They turn light brownish grey after about 2 months.[5] They are also observed rarely leaving their mothers or other females carrying them, known as alloparenting. Sex at this time is indistinguishable.
Habitat and distribution
The distribution of the golden snub-nosed monkey is limited to temperate forests on mountains in four provinces in China:
Home range size varies seasonally. The change in home range size and location is dependent upon the availability and distribution of food. The total area covered by seasonal home ranges is surprisingly large for a species. One of the largest home ranges found covered 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi).[6]
Behavior
The golden snub-nosed monkey is found in groups ranging in size from 5-10 individuals to bands of about 600.[6] The social organization of this species can be quite complex. The one-male-units (OMUs) are the basic social unit within groups of golden snub-nosed monkeys with many of the OMUs forming a bigger group. These multi-tier societies consist of several OMUs that include one adult male plus a number of adult females and their offspring. Some observers have even come to conclude that these large foraging groups are multi-male and multi-female societies.[5]
The male may stay solitary, often remaining away from the rest of the group members as they rest. Adult females tend to socialize more with one another than with other males or juveniles. Group members remain close to one another, interactions between different OMUs often result in confrontations.[5] Females of the golden snub-nosed monkey are usually observed to form several close associations with other females. However, in conflicts against other units in the surrounding site, both males and females support each other, while also protecting their young (usually observed at a distance by putting the young in the center of the pack).[5] Unusually for a harem-forming species, infanticide by males is averted. Female snub-nose monkeys will deliberately have "affairs" with all resident males in the surrounding area behind the harem-master's back, which in turn creates paternity confusion and means newly established alpha males will not risk killing what could be their own offspring. In turn females will have more reproductive success and less infant losses.[12]
Protecting the young is a group effort. Mothers often have helpers assisting them with the care of their young.[13] When faced with danger from a predator such as the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), the young are placed at the center of the group while the stronger adult males go to the scene of the alarm. The rest of the day, the members of the group remain closer to one another with the young protected at the center.[14]
There is little information available on the sleeping cluster patterns of the
There are several hypotheses to explain the formation of sleeping clusters, the most important one being a thermoregulatory process. The thermoregulatory hypothesis suggests that a primary function of sleeping in clusters is the conservation of heat during cold temperatures.[15] Along with thermoregulation, safety from predators is an important principle underlying the formation of sleeping clusters in primates. This antipredation hypothesis suggest that increased cohesion and large sleeping congregations might facilitate predator detection and enhance group defense.[15]
Reproduction
Females are
In primate research, although male-male competition for mates and female
Diet
The golden snub-nosed monkey eats (from greatest to least amount)
This primate prefers to forage in larger trees of a tree species, and spends most of the time using primary forest and young forest, rarely uses shrub forest and does not use grassland.
Social structures
The fundamental level of social organization is the one-male, multifemale social unit (OMU), which contains a single breeding male, several breeding females (harem) and their offspring. There also exist all-male units (AMU), in which several bachelor males reside together. Many of these are juvenile and sub-adult males who transferred directly into the AMU from their natal OMU. In some cases adult AMU members are previous residential males of an OMU. AMU members are characterized by an age-graded dominance hierarchy and kin relationships. Solitary males are principally adults who have been replaced as breeding males in their OMU. However they may transfer into an all-male band or follow the breeding band and try to take over an OMU from the residential male. The breeding band is an aggregation of OMUs that coordinate their daily activity. Although they feed, forage, rest and travel together in a coordinated manner, members of different OMUs within the breeding band rarely engage in social interactions. The all-male band is composed of 1–3 AMUs that are socially distinct from each other but coordinate their activities in close spatial proximity. The herd is composed of an associated breeding band, all-male band and solitary males. The troop is composed of two or more herds in a large home range. Individuals and OMUs have been observed to transfer between herds of this multilevel society.[20]
Conservation
The golden snub-nosed monkey is
This primate is found in a number of protected areas, including Baihe Nature Reserve, Foping National Nature Reserve, Shennongjia National Geopark, and Wanglang National Nature Reserve. The golden snub-nosed monkey is also listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meaning that international trade in this species is prohibited.[1]
In 2004 the endangered aspect of this monkey was publicized in a postage stamp issued by Guernsey Post.
In captivity
The
See also
Explanatory notes
- ^ Chongqing Municipality was separated from Sichuan Province in 1997, and included much of Sichuan's part of the Daba Mountains, and all of former Sichuan–Hubei border. Thus older sources referring to the "northeastern Sichuan" may often mean counties transferred to the new Chongqing Municipality.
References
- ^ . Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ OCLC 62265494.
- S2CID 13365402.
- ^ S2CID 28692616.
- ^ S2CID 35633961.
- ^ S2CID 39788383.
- ^ Gron, K.J. (2007). "Primate Factsheets: Golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) Taxonomy, Morphology, & Ecology". primate.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
- ISBN 978-7-5031-4772-2; map of Shaanxi on pp. 162-163
- ^ Number of golden monkeys doubled (Xinhua, www.chinaview.cn, 2005-08-08)
- ^ a b "Golden Snub-nosed Monkey". Animal Spot. 3 March 2018. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
- ISSN 0003-3472.
- S2CID 26557020.
- S2CID 43221070.
- ^ S2CID 1696213.
- S2CID 22835712.
- S2CID 10837470.
- ^ S2CID 23520334.
- S2CID 36931264.
- PMID 25335993.
- ^ "Sichuan Golden Snub-nosed Monkey". Ocean Park, Aberdeen, Hong Kong. 2016-07-25.
- ^ "Golden Snub-nosed Monkey". ZooBorns.com.
- Attribution
- PMID 25335993. Please check the source for the exact licensing terms.
External links
- Golden snub-nosed monkey in Maximum Card from China Archived 2008-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ARKive - images and movies of the Golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana)
- Pictures of the Golden snub-nosed monkey from Chinese photographer Xi Zhinong
- Jablonski, Nina G., ed. (1998). The natural history of the doucs and snub-nosed monkeys. Volume 4 of Recent advances in human biology. World Scientific. ISBN 981-02-3131-8.