Blog 2: Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys

Blog 2 by Olivia Isetts-Williams

Geographic Range

ID: Geographic Range of Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

Habitat Use & Ranging

The forests in central China are home to the Snub-Nosed monkeys, located more specifically in the Sichuan, Hubei, Gansu, and Shaanxi provinces about the Sichuan Basin (Groves, 2001, as cited in Richardson & Yongchen, 2015). These primates can be found in montane forests, such as the Qinling Mountains, of which are composed of a combination of deciduous broadleaf and evergreen conifer trees. The evergreens particularly ensure that the Golden Snub-Nosed monkeys retain their habitats year-round despite cold winters, through antifreeze wax protecting their needled foliage. The deciduous broadleaves are characterized by their seasonality, and these during off-seasons as well as dead trees offer lichen—an organismic colony of algae and fungus (USDA)—for the primates to utilize as sustenance during the winter. Such winter temperatures may reach a low of -8.3ºC along the northern slope of these mountains and average at about 10ºC during summers, with a high of nearly 22ºC. Elevation exacerbates the duration of the cold season, but exhibits a drastic range between 1,000 to 4,100 meters, its trees varying from broadleaf lower down to coniferous as the elevation grows (Kirkpatrick & Grueter, 2010).
In response to the temperate climate, Golden Snub-Nosed monkeys are migratory primates. During the summer, they will spend more time in the higher elevations of the mountains, and opt for lower elevations as the weather grows more frigid (Gron, 2007). The home ranges of the Golden Snub-Nosed monkey are quite large, ranging between 18 and 40 square kilometers. Their daily paths may also vary depending on the season due to food availability and temperatures, but generally, the average of their daily ranges falls between 710 and 2,100 meters (Kirkpatrick & Grueter, 2010). 

Locomotion
Golden Snub-Nosed monkeys are incredibly arboreal, with up to 97% of their time spent in trees (Yi, 2007, as cited in Gron, 2007). They are primarily quadrupedal when walking, and exhibit leaping, jumping, and occasionally the arm-swinging method of brachiation while navigating the forest from above (Agetsuma et al. 1994, as cited in Gron, 2007). Captivity alters these natural locomotive habits, featuring an increasing occurrence of quadrupedal walking and modified erect trotting, their additional time on the ground reducing their reliance on arboreal lifestyles.

ID: Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey Leaping (Pixelchrome Phototours, Jeremy)

As is characteristic of quadrupeds, Snub-Nosed monkeys have arms and legs of comparable lengths, also lending to short-term bipedal occurrences. Being a Cercopithecoid, or African & Asian (“Old World”) monkey, these primates possess a tail which further helps with balance and propulsion during arboreal leaping, though they are not prehensile—which is a unique key characteristic of the Central & South American (“New World”) monkeys.

Ecology

Golden Snub-Nosed monkeys are herbivores, often left to scavenge for whatever they can get amidst habitat destruction and extreme temperatures reducing access to preferred foods. Filamentous lichens, leaves, fruit, shrubs, vines, and occasionally insects are the most notable sources of sustenance in their diets. They turn to dead trees more often than not, as they host more lichens than a living tree; a trait frequently observed in fungi. These lichens account for 43.28% of their feeding, followed by young leaves, as well as fruits or seeds when seasonally available (Munoz, 1999). Though during winter when resources are sparse, Golden Snub-Nosed monkeys have been observed to resort to foraging through the snow for bark, pine needles, and pine cones as a fallback food alongside the expected lichens. These fallback foods, and most notably lichen, are rich in digestible carbohydrates but leave a lot to be desired in the way of proteins. This causes feeding times to increase during the winter, requiring more foraging of options possessing less mass and quality as opposed to the flowering of high quality fruits in the summer (Kirkpatrick & Grueter, 2010). Their arboreal locomotion lends to their feeding habits which typically occur in the upper strata of their daily ranges (Gron, 2007), and helps these primates to avoid predation on the ground. Their activity time takes place during the day; that is to say, these creatures are diurnal in nature. At night, in which they rest huddled together an average of 11 hours, Snub-Nosed monkeys sleep in tall trees along flatter land and have been noted to face south as a method of watching out for predators and remaining warm once the sun rises. 

ID: A group of Golden Snub-Nosed monkeys form a small huddle (Natural Habitat Adventures)

Golden Snub-Nosed monkeys are the most widely distributed of the Rhinopithecus and, as a result, feature a wide array of variations in habits regarding ecological study. The way that they live depends heavily on their environment due to ecological pressures, and thus their diets, lifestyles, ranging, and physical attributes are altered periodically to increase their fitness in response (Kirkpatrick & Grueter, 2010). While it may appear that these primates are severely disadvantaged in the face of their circumstances, they are incredibly adaptive in response to these pressures and challenges, allowing them to stand out in comparison the vast array of other diverse primates. Their unique evolution and survival is why research of these illustrious monkeys are pursued, but they must be helped in the face of endangerment so that we can continue to seek understanding of all colobines. 



References

Cerrone, M. (2024, August). Golden snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus Roxellana - new england primate conservancy. New England Primate Conservancy. https://neprimateconservancy.org/golden-snub-nosed-monkey/  

Gron, K. (2007, November 20). Golden snub-nosed monkey. Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. https://primate.wisc.edu/primate-info-net/pin-factsheets/pin-factsheet-golden-snub-nosed-monkey/


Kirkpatrick, R. C., & Grueter, C. C. (2010). Snub‐nosed monkeys: Multilevel societies across varied environments. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 19(3), 98–113. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.20259 

Munoz, P. (1999). Rhinopithecus Roxellana (Golden Snub-nosed monkey). Animal Diversity Web. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Rhinopithecus_roxellana/

Richardson, M., & Yongcheng, L. (2015, November 22). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/19596/196491153  


Savage, E. (2024, April 8). Photograph endangered golden snub-nosed monkeys in China’s nature reserves. Good Nature Travel Blog | Stories are made on adventures. https://www.nathab.com/blog/photograph-endangered-golden-snub-nosed-monkeys-in-chinas-nature-reserves/ 

U.S. Forest Service. Forest Service Shield. (n.d.). https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/lichens/about.shtml 


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