A group of 30 macaca assamensis, commonly known as Assam macaques, a endangered species under China's first-class protection, were bathing and playing in a river in Tongbiguan Nature Reserve, southeast China's Yunnan Province, which were caught in a camera by a natural ecological photographer.

The rare footage shows a group of Assam macaques comfortably sitting on a rock, enjoying sunshine, catching lice and playing with each other and, a little while later, several naughty monkeys play in the water.

"We have been watching closely for this group of Assam macaques for a few years. But it is the first time to capture their images in the valley, including some precious images swimming in the river," said photographer Zhu Bianyong.

Zhu gave the images to the rangers of the reserve. After comparison and verification, they verified that there were 26 Assam macaques, including adult, semi-adult and young monkeys.

The Assam macaque is a species of macaques. It has a large and strong body, a high and protruding snout and nose, and a protruding brow arch. The creature mainly inhabits in the tropical evergreen forests and subtropical broad-leaved forests and coniferous forest at an altitude of 900 to 3,000 meters. The monkeys like ground activities and live in groups of 20 to 30.

In China, they mainly live in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"The footage is rare. This group of monkeys are healthy and their age structure is reasonable, which provides important data and images for the study of the monkeys. It was difficult to see traces of Assam macaques in the reserve in the past. In recent years, there have been more and more witness records. Many images of their activities have been taken, indicating that our environment is getting better and better, and the protection is effective," said Zhang Yongsheng, chief of the Management and Protection Bureau of Tongbiguan Nature Reserve.

(Cover image via CFP)

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