Chordates • Earth.com

Golden snub-nosed monkey

(Rhinopithecus roxellana)

galery

Description

The golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is an Old World monkey in the subfamily Colobinae. It is endemic to a small area in temperate, mountainous forests of central and Southwest China. They inhabit these mountainous forests of Southwestern China at elevations of 1,500–3,400 m (4,900–11,200 ft) above sea level. The Chinese name is Sichuan golden hair monkey. It is also widely referred to as the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey. Of the three species of snub-nosed monkeys in China, the golden snub-nosed monkey is the most widely distributed throughout China. Snow occurs frequently within its range, and it can withstand colder average temperatures better than any other non-human primate. Its diet varies markedly with the seasons, but it is primarily a herbivore with lichens being its main food source. It is diurnal and largely arboreal, spending some 97% of its time in the canopy. There are three subspecies. Population estimates range from 8,000 to 15,000 and it is threatened by habitat loss. The distribution of the golden snub-nosed monkey is limited to temperate forests on mountains in four provinces in China: Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Hubei. This monkey is found at elevations of 1,500-3,400 m. Within this area, vegetation varies with altitude from deciduous, broadleaf forests at low elevations to mixed coniferous, broadleaf forests above 2,200 m and coniferous forests above 2,600 m. Average annual temperature is 6.4 °C with a minimum of -8.3 °C in January and a maximum of 21.7 °C in July. 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 km2. The San Francisco Zoo kept this species during 1985, and the San Diego zoo kept the species before the 1980s. Outside Mainland China only Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea keep the golden-snub nosed monkeys.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum:
Class: Mammalia
Order:Primates
Family:Cercopithecidae
Genus:Rhinopithecus
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