A little-noticed species monitoring started, and zoologist Long Yongcheng felt that he had "no regrets in this life".
On November 18, 2017, in a conference room of the Forestry Department of Yunnan Province, Long Yongcheng, with gray hair, said with emotion: "All my dreams have blossomed!"
On the same day, the "Yunnan Golden Monkey Dynamic Monitoring Project" was announced. This project, involving 8 institutions including Yunnan University, Dali University and related nature reserves, and funded by Southwest Project Center of Alashan SEE Ecological Association, is the first synchronous dynamic monitoring of Yunnan golden monkey population in China.
Long Yongcheng, who has been roaming in Yunnan Golden Monkey Kingdom for 30 years, has been calling for a national investigation of Yunnan Golden Monkey. He said that with the reduction of virgin forest area, Yunnan golden monkey is facing the crisis of disappearing. As a national treasure, Yunnan golden monkey, who is also dressed in black and white, has not received the same care and favor as the giant panda. "The giant panda has conducted four national surveys, but the Yunnan golden monkey has not once."
In March 2017, Yang Zongliang, a representative of the National People’s Congress, submitted the "Proposal on Strengthening the Protection of Yunnan Golden Monkey" written by scientists such as Long Yongcheng to the Fifth Session of the Twelfth National People’s Congress. The Ministry of Environmental Protection replied that it is necessary to "accelerate the population monitoring and habitat restoration of Yunnan golden monkey".
"So far, there are less than 3,000 existing 15 groups of Yunnan golden monkeys. Few people have seen them. Many people still can’t imagine what kind of animal Yunnan golden monkey is. " Long Yongcheng said.
They have been missing for more than half a century.
And he himself is familiar with this animal.
In his eyes, Yunnan golden monkey with white face and red lips has a pair of "the most human-like face in the world" and "the most beautiful natural red lips in the world", which is one of the most beautiful animals on earth.
In many ways, Yunnan golden monkeys all behave like human beings. Long Yongcheng saw their "collective lunch break" at close range.
One afternoon in April this year, azaleas were in full bloom in Samage forest area of Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in Yunnan. A few minutes ago, more than 400 Yunnan golden monkeys, which were jumping up and down in the hemlock forest in Yunnan, more than 30 meters high, suddenly quieted down and all entered the lunch break.
Long Yongcheng and local monkey guard Yu Zhonghua, who were close at hand, did not dare to make any noise. They sat down on the spot and quietly accompanied the Yunnan golden monkey. They know that Yunnan golden monkey has the habit of taking a lunch break, usually between 12: 00 and 14: 00 every day.
Few people have such luck to accompany them. Yunnan golden monkey is a world-class rare animal endemic to China, and its population is extremely rare. It was listed as a national first-class protected species in the 1970s, and it is also an endangered species in the red list of IUCN species. It is only distributed in five counties of Deqin, Weixi, Lanping, Yulong and Yunlong in northwest Yunnan and the alpine primeval forest on the top of the snow-capped mountain in Mangkang County in southeast Tibet, and it is the highest-altitude primate in the world.
According to Ma Yuanye, a researcher at Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, this mysterious snow mountain spirit first appeared in a report by a Frenchman in 1871, but the content of the report was based on hearsay. In 1890, two Frenchmen captured seven Yunnan golden monkeys in Deqin County, Yunnan Province, and the museum in Paris preserved their skulls and skins. Seven years later, French zoologist Miller Edward made a scientific description of Yunnan golden monkey for the first time based on these specimens.
However, in the following more than half a century, the mysterious Yunnan golden monkey lost news.
It was not until the 1960s that the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences made a continuous scientific investigation of Yunnan golden monkey, which made people know that there were such beautiful, elegant and breathtaking monkeys in the world.
However, the Yunnan golden monkey with a "charming smile" is in a worrying living situation. In 2015, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly published the Red List of Biodiversity in China, which showed that the Yunnan golden monkey population was rare and its distribution area was narrow, belonging to endangered species. In recent years, through the establishment of nature reserves, artificial intervention grouping and other measures, the population of Yunnan golden monkey has steadily increased, but due to overfishing and hunting and habitat loss, the population and habitat of Yunnan golden monkey are still facing serious threats.
According to Long Yongcheng, although three national reserves and one provincial reserve have been established for Yunnan golden monkey, there are still some monkeys outside the reserve. For example, there are about 350 monkeys in Laojun Mountain in Lijiang, which are the most endangered among the three gene banks of Yunnan golden monkey, and are completely out of the reserve. There are more than 400 monkeys in Baima Snow Mountain Reserve, which has overflowed the reserve for more than 10 years. These problems need to be solved urgently.
Guo Huijun, deputy director of the Forestry Department of Yunnan Province, bluntly said that since the first scientific record of Yunnan golden monkey in 1897, the two geographical distribution and population surveys conducted so far were in the 1990s and 2005, and the scientific data need to be updated urgently.
A person’s 10 years
In the early 1980s, Long Yongcheng, who graduated from Sun Yat-sen University and was assigned to work in Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, like other researchers in the institute, had never seen a live Yunnan golden monkey. At that time, "there was no photo of Yunnan golden monkey in the world".
Over the past 30 years, researchers from Kunming Institute of Zoology and other related research institutions have struggled and walked alone on the deserted barren hills with heavy bags on their legs, tracking the elves who are hiding from human beings.
Among these scientists, the most legendary is Long Yongcheng.
In 1987, after retrieving 15 Yunnan golden monkey skeletons from Deqin County alone, Long Yongcheng realized that this unknown peerless treasure was rapidly dying out.
At that time, Kunming Institute of Zoology had begun a systematic scientific research on Yunnan golden monkey. Long Yongcheng put forward the topic of investigating the geographical distribution and population number of Yunnan golden monkey, which was supported by the institute.
He underestimated the practical difficulties faced by this subject. The journey to find Yunnan golden monkey was so long and arduous that it took him 10 years to finish the project.
At first, most local forestry bureaus didn’t know whether there were Yunnan golden monkeys in China. Long Yongcheng, who was "half-hearted", could only ask fellow villagers in rural markets or villages and ask the hunters in the village to be guides.
In Deqin, Yunlong, Lijiang and other places in northwest Yunnan, most local people know Yunnan golden monkey. They call this kind of monkey "Daqing monkey", "White monkey" and "Flower monkey", which is different from another kind of monkey with yellow hair and short tail and likes to disturb crops. "This kind of monkey with nose facing the sky never steals crops."
However, the Yunnan golden monkey, which never disturbs people, has always been the target of local hunting. People eat their meat and exchange a monkey bone for nearly 100 kilograms of rice; They were made into swaddling clothes with their skins. According to Long Yongcheng’s explanation, "Yunnan golden monkey skin has anti-corrosion effect, and all three children brought up are intact. The swaddling clothes made of sheepskin will be corroded by urine and can only bring up one child. "
Monkeys living in the deep forests of steep canyons have a large range of activities and are very difficult to track. If you are lucky, you can see the monkeys waiting day and night on the mountain ridge or the fir tree 30 to 40 meters high in half a month or a month. If you are unlucky, you won’t see each other for a month or two.
The most difficult task is to establish a long-term field research base in Baima Snow Mountain Nature Reserve at an altitude of 4,300 meters. The so-called base is just a few simple wooden houses built on the alpine lawn. It is the establishment of this base that has enabled the scientific community to obtain valuable information about four Yunnan golden monkey groups in the region.
There is almost no communication and sound transmission between the monkeys in the reserve, and they are all in a state of "isolation". This self-protection makes it difficult for researchers to find them, especially some smaller monkeys.
Based on years of experience in finding monkeys in the forest, Long Yongcheng relied on feces to judge and track the whereabouts of monkeys. In Dashangou, northwest Yunnan, it took him 10 years to complete the accurate geographical location investigation and preliminary population estimation of Yunnan golden monkey, which laid an important foundation for later scientific research.
"Few people can match his understanding of Yunnan golden monkey." Qian Xiaohua, president of Alashan SEE Ecological Association, said.
Many years later, Long Yongcheng was invited to give a speech at the graduation ceremony of his alma mater, saying, "I have only done research and protection of Yunnan golden monkey for more than 30 years. For 10 years, I just searched for Yunnan golden monkey alone in the virgin forest of snowy plateau — — Of course, there is no competition in this kind of work. As long as you can persist, you will always gain something. "
Turn excellent hunters into excellent animal protectors.
Ten years ago, Zhang Zhimin, a former hunter, worked as a guide for Long Yongcheng to visit the monkeys in Laojun Mountain in Lijiang.
Now, he is a local Yunnan golden monkey guard. As long as he sees hunting condoms in the mountains, he can roughly judge who laid these condoms, what animals they were "laid" and what impact they will have on Yunnan golden monkeys.
When he was a guide for Long Yongcheng, after breakfast every day, the two of them put the leftovers in plastic bags and walked for more than ten hours in the desolate and low-visibility primitive alpine forest. Many times, I didn’t even have time to stop to eat. I didn’t go back to the camp built with branches until it was dark. I put the food I carried out and brought back back into the pot and cooked it with dinner.
After more than five months of inseparable outdoor life, we not only found out the range of activities and approximate population of the two monkeys in Laojun Mountain, but also turned Zhang Zhimin, a "hunter", into a "protector" of Yunnan golden monkey.
As an experienced hunter, Zhang Zhimin is familiar with all kinds of "animal paths" and "bird paths" in the mountains. He used the knowledge of hunters to deal with poaching, which made him famous. In order to protect the monkeys, he and the local villagers traveled all over Laojun Mountain. "The trip is enough to circle the earth." Their field tracking and patrol have enabled the monkeys to live a stable life. Today, the number of Yunnan golden monkeys in Laojun Mountain has increased from more than 100 to about 350. In 2013, Zhang Zhimin won the first prize of "Pioneer Award for Natural Environmental Protection" of Ford Motor Environmental Protection Award.
In Xiangguqing, a forest area in Samage, Tacheng Town, Weixi County, 120 kilometers away from Shangri-La, there is also a monkey guard team transformed from hunters.
The Monkey Guard was established in 1998. In the past 20 years, the team members have walked through the steep mountains and kept company with the monkeys in the ice and snow. "Everyone wears out three pairs of rubber shoes every month." After many hardships, we have mastered the basic activities of monkeys, realized the comprehensive protection and management of monkeys, and regularly fed Yunnan golden monkeys, which greatly increased the number of monkeys.
Nowadays, Xiangguqing, a tiny place with less than 100 square kilometers, has been home to nearly 1,000 Yunnan golden monkeys, making it the easiest place to see Yunnan golden monkeys in the world. Domestic and foreign dignitaries, researchers, environmentalists and tourists have come here to watch monkeys, and China wildlife protection has also attracted the attention and attention of the international community.
According to the experience of Laojunshan and Xiangguqing, Yunnan has established several routes in Baima Snow Mountain and Tianchi in Yunlong County, and Yunling Provincial Nature Reserve in Lanping County to carry out long-term patrol monitoring of Yunnan golden monkey.
"The hunter is a veritable zoologist. The fundamental way to protect wild animals is to turn excellent hunters into excellent animal protectors. " Long Yongcheng said.
Protecting Yunnan golden monkey protects more than 5% of the virgin forest in China.
In the investigation on Baima Snow Mountain, Long Yongcheng and the guide had to wear all the warm clothes such as duck down clothes, duck down vests and sweaters in the morning, and they were still shivering with cold. They dare not make a fire for fear of disturbing the sleeping monkeys.
At 7: 30, the genius lights up. The monkeys gradually wake up, and they begin to move and eat breakfast — — Feeding on the pineapples in the trees.
Usnea is a lichen fungus parasitic on the crown of fir, which lives by absorbing the nutrition of fir. Too much pine will affect the growth of fir. The fir forest provides food and shelter for the monkeys, and the monkeys remove excessive pines from the crown of the fir tree.
Scientists’ field research found that the hinterland of Hengduan Mountain, where Yunnan golden monkey lives, is the core of global biodiversity hotspots. The protection of Yunnan golden monkey is also the protection of virgin forest: protecting Yunnan golden monkey will protect more than 5% of China’s virgin forest.
In recent years, Yunnan has effectively protected Yunnan golden snub-nosed monkey populations and habitats to some extent by expanding protected areas, carrying out the rescue and protection of extremely small populations of wild species, promoting the reform of nature reserve management system, implementing the Yunnan Province Protection Action Plan (2015-2020), relocating residents in the core areas and buffer zones of protected areas, and investing special funds for rescue and protection.
Both the captive breeding experiment of Yunnan golden monkey in Kunming Animal Institute in recent 20 years and the field follow-up investigation by researchers show that the annual birth rate of Yunnan golden monkey population can reach more than 10%, sometimes as high as 15%.
"As long as there is no abnormal death, the number of monkeys will continue to increase, and small populations will not die out automatically." Long Yongcheng said.
At present, although there are fewer and fewer poachers, even sporadic poaching activities are unbearable for Yunnan golden monkeys with a population of less than 3,000.
Therefore, scientists including Long Yongcheng believe that the experience of monkey protection in Laojun Mountain in Lijiang and Tacheng Town in Weixi County proves that the whole process of tracking and protection is one of the most effective means to protect Yunnan golden monkey at present.
"The meritorious service of the Monkey Guard Team is as great as the research results of animal ecologists." Long Yongcheng said.
To this end, the public welfare funds donated by Alashan SEE Ecological Association to the "Yunnan Golden Monkey Dynamic Monitoring Project" are not only used for equipment improvement and capacity building of patrol officers, but also give priority to providing Himalayan bee breeding training, beehives and rare Chinese herbal medicine seedlings for patrol officers’ families, so that these people can diversify their family income sources and make them feel at ease.
However, while affirming the achievements of the monkey guard team, some researchers expressed their objection to the "monkey herding" of the Xiangguqing patrol team in Tacheng Town regularly feeding Yunnan golden monkeys, and thought it should be stopped. They are worried that years of special care may weaken the survival ability of Yunnan golden monkey in nature.
"This is a thorny problem." Long Yongcheng said that at present, the research on Yunnan golden monkey population is still very limited, and it is difficult to say which protection scheme is the most appropriate without a national survey. "If we don’t grasp the population number, dynamic changes, habitat conditions, threatened factors and protection needs of Yunnan golden monkey as soon as possible, it will be difficult to formulate scientific protection measures."
Fortunately, his long-awaited investigation has finally started, and the mystery of Yunnan golden monkey will be more clearly visible.
