New gadgets help monitor endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys

The population of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys at a reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province has been steadily increasing as conservation authorities adopt new technologies to protect wildlife and boost biodiversity.

The 2,821-square-kilometer Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve sits in the core zone of the Sanjiangyuan area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The reserve stands as an exemplary model for the province's efforts to protect the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys, an endangered species unique to China.

New digital technologies are playing an increasingly vital role. Among them is a set of weight scales, readable by remote control, which were added to the reserve this year to better monitor the health of the monkeys.

A total of 11 new baby monkeys were born this year, the staff said, adding that their current weights are within the normal range and they are all in good health.

In addition to monitoring the monkey's weight changes, they collect and detect the feces of the primates every season to learn about their physical condition, said Lai Jiandong, head of the wildlife rescue station at the reserve.

Conservationists also use cutting-edge advances to collect exhaustive data on the monkeys' habitat.

"The technology we are utilizing is laser radar, and its advantage is that it can create a three-dimensional reconstruction of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys' habitat. This enables us to assess the habitat quality of the monkeys over a larger area, compared with traditional remote sensing methods, which rely solely on imagery or ground-based manual surveys. The traditional methods cannot reflect the three-dimensional habitat of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys," explained Yang Haitao, an associate researcher at the Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System under Peking University.

This year, the nature reserve has also reintroduced 40 Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys to the wild to promote genetic exchange. The group of 40 includes three families and one group of males, with the youngest being just three months old.

Data shows that the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey population in the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve has increased from nearly 500 individuals when the nature reserve was established in 1983 to roughly 2,500 individuals at present, making up 65 percent of the total population of the species in China.

Dubbed "elves of the snow mountain," Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys live in the mountainous forests of Yunnan and the neighboring Xizang Autonomous Region. They are listed as a first-class state protected species in China and as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.

(Cover a still from the video)