ant.jpg
hog_badger.jpg
Red_Panda_1000_watmrk.jpg
Tibetan_Gazelle_2015_07_16_02_04_27_UTC.jpg
mmexport1547313660546.jpg
Swihoes_striped.jpg
mountain_weasel.jpg
tib.jpg
Glovers_JW.jpg
Leopard.jpg
bs.jpg
IMG_1150.jpg
red_and_white_flying_squirrel_one.jpg
pika_1.jpg
lynx.jpg
hare__nige.jpg
Chindwin_.jpg
mmexport1547262599184.jpg
tufted_deer.jpg
Takin_5.jpg
chinese_goral_1.jpg
Black.jpg
brown_.jpg
LC.jpg
02_FEB_Chinese_Mountain_Cat.jpg
himalayan_palm_civet.jpg
Home
Snow Leopards
Panda Watching
Birding Information
Sichuan Birding Intro
Pheasant Watching Sichuan
Warblers
Sichuan Birding Site Review 2024
Sichuan Bird List
Sichuan Non-Passerine List
Sichuan Passerine List
Photo Gallery
Birds Photos 2021/22/23/24
Bird Photos 2022
Bird Photos 2023
Bird Summer 2021
Qinghai Trip Photos
Qinghai Photos 2023
Qinghai Photos 2024
Yunnan Winter Bird Hide Photography
Miguel Rocco Gallery 2015
Yann Muzika 2015
Rob Fray
Steb Fisher, South Sichuan
Andy Goldby and Jane Kempler
Ron and Sue McIntyre
Tim Bourne Qinghai/Sichuan
Zeng Zhang Sichuan Bird Guide
Trip Reports
Trip Reports 2013
Trip Reports 2014
Trip Reports 2015
Trip Reports 2016
Trip Reports 2017
Trip Reports 2019
Trip Reports 2020
Pandas with Sam Phillips - December 2020
Mammal Watching Reports
Sichuan Mammals
Squirrels
Rats, Mice, Gerbils, Hamsters and Jerboas
Mustelids
Lagomorphs
Bears and The Pandas
Canids
Cats and Civets
Primates
Ungulates
Sichuan Butterflies
Lycaenidae - blues, hairstreaks etc.
Nymphalidae - brush-footed butterflies
Hesperiidae - skipper butterflies
Papilionidae - swallowtail butterflies
News and Articles
Gold-fronted Fulvetta Longcanggou 2022
Pere David's Owl
Biet's Laughingthrush - 2019/2024 trips
Sichuan BOP Passage – Lockdown Friendly Birding
Birding SE Sichuan
Dujiangyan Waterbirds
Books and Other ID References
Wolong Golden Pheasants
Wolong Golden Pheasants - The Hide is Completed
Wolong Golden Pheasants 中文
Contact
Primates
Details
Written by
Sid Francis
Hits: 1690
Golden Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is found at several sites in Sichuan but most of our records come from autumn/winter sightings at Tangjiahe, Formerly it was easy to view in the Foping area of Shaanxi, where two habituated groups were fed for both study purposes and a tourist attraction. However, for unknown reasons, during 2019 this was stopped. Finding truly wild animals can take a lot of scanning – troops are relatively silent, and the best indications of their presence are branch movements. The autumn/winter periods give the best opportunities since tree foliage is at its lowest and the monkeys come lower in colder weather. Using scanning we can also pick up troops of Tibetan Macaque in the same habitat but identification at distance is easy since the snub-nosed monkey has a long tail while the macaque’s is very short. Tangjiahe is the best site to see this animal but we also have found at Labahe and the Jiuzhaigou area. It is a China endemic.
Here showing its shaggy golden pelage which protects against the harsh winter climate.
Black Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) also known as Yunnan Snub-nosed is viewed at a single location in NW Yunnan, where a habituated troop are fed as a study group and tourist attraction. This animal is far rarer than Golden Snub-nosed and truly wild troops could only be found in difficult to access terrain in restricted nature reserve areas. With a very restricted Yunnan range it is a China endemic.
Looking very different to Golden Snub-nosed, this alpine species also has to withstand a harsh winter climate
Tibetan Macaque (Macaca thibetana) also known as Chinese Stump-tailed and Milne-Edwards’ Macaque is found at many sites in Sichuan. It is the largest macaque species and where it lives closely associated with tourist activity, they are easily viewed prowling around after the chance to scavenge or steal food scraps. In their wild habitat they can be more difficult to view, with troops roaming forest from canopy to ground level after the chance of feeding opportunities. Seeing branch movement is the best way to find but they are also highly vocal, and troops can be heard at a distance. Highly adaptive, at Tangjiahe and Labahe they are seen around tourist areas where they have become a nuisance. On Emei Mountain they are advertised as tourist attractions and have become highly habituated to a human presence. In rural areas they are often despised as crop stealers and can be persecuted if found around agricultural land. They also show signs of surprising organisation and intelligence. In the Wawu Mountain area, we have observed a conflict between two troops, where one rolled stones down a hill side towards the others, and at Wolong had a large stone rolled, very accurately, down a valley side, in our direction. What was more surprising about that last action was that the stone was flat, but the macaques knew how to roll it (on its thinnest edge – wheel like) for maximum speed and accuracy. Almost a China endemic, it has also been reported from NW India.
Black Crested Gibbon (Nomascus concolor) is one of the two species of gibbon that it is still possible to find in Yunnan. In the seventies the call of gibbons could still be heard from some towns but massive habitat loss has all but exterminated Northern White-cheeked (animals reported in a forest park seem to be reintroductions and may have been removed) and left only Black Crested and Eastern Hoolock as the only readily viewable species. Black Crested is found in the Wuliang Mountain range and is closely protected and monitored by wardens and researchers. To see the animal, visitors need to access restricted nature reserve areas and for non-Chinese nationals this can be a problem.
A young Black Crested feeding on fruit at Wuliang NNR
Contact at
chengduuk@hotmail.com