English name: Yunnan golden monkey; Black-nosed monkey

Other names: Black Golden Monkey, Black Golden Monkey, Snow Monkey, Flower Monkey, Daqing Monkey, White Monkey, Flying Monkey, Black and White Golden Monkey, which is called Zhijie in Tibetan, Jamie in Yi and Yao Yao in Bai (according to the meaning of white monkey).

Yunnan golden monkey has been officially named and scientifically recorded by human beings for a whole hundred years. Milne-Edwards, a French zoologist, gave a complete scientific description of this species in 1897, and officially named it Rhinopithecusbieti according to the binomial nomenclature created by Linnaeus. Since then, this species has its own place in the species library on the earth.

The snub-nosed monkey here is the genus name of snub-nosed monkey. The first letter should be capitalized, and it can be divided into two parts (rhinoceros and ape). Rhino means nose, and ape means monkey. Together, it is snub-nosed monkey or monkey with distinctive nose. The uniqueness of all golden monkeys is that the nasal bone on the skull almost disappears, thus forming a nose facing the sky, so golden monkeys are also called snub-nosed monkeys, and Yunnan golden monkeys are also called black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (their backs, heads, limbs and other parts are mainly black, while their bellies are mainly white). "Don't mention" is a specific title, which is actually the surname of a French missionary who organized the collection of these Yunnan golden monkey specimens in Yunnan at that time. Specific epithet used his surname as the name of this species to commemorate his contribution to the discovery of this species. Bilt recorded this when he first collected Yunnan silk monkey specimens: the locals called them black and white monkeys.

Most creatures live in the tropical rain forest called the animal and plant kingdom. The climate here is warm and food is abundant, and nature provides them with a superior habitat for survival. Therefore, no matter ordinary people or experts and scholars, when it comes to primates, they always pay attention to the evergreen tropical rain forest. However, in the alpine forest on the top of the snow-capped mountains at the junction of China, Yunnan and Tibet, there is a rare primate that is little known. This is China's unique world rare animal-Yunnan golden monkey.

They are one of the most beautiful animals in the world, with their most human-like faces, white faces and red lips. In addition, it is the largest monkey on the earth, weighing up to 30 kilograms, and its ecological behavior is extremely special. It lives in the alpine coniferous forest belt near the glacier snow line all the year round. Even in snowy winter, it does not go down to a lower altitude to escape the harsh natural environment factors such as extreme cold and food shortage. It is always "harmless in autumn" to crops, so it is one of the most interesting species among primates.

In the classification of animal system, it belongs to primate, monkey family and golden monkey genus. This genus is an extremely striking group in biology. It is in a special classification position between monkeys and apes in the Old World. Therefore, the study of golden monkey is of great significance for people to know and understand the evolution of human beings, so it has high academic research value.

Four species in the genus Rhinopithecus (including Sichuan Rhinopithecus, Guizhou Rhinopithecus, Yunnan Rhinopithecus and Vietnam Rhinopithecus) have been included in the red list of endangered animals in the world. Among them, Yunnan golden monkey, Guizhou golden monkey and Vietnam golden monkey are one of the 25 most endangered primate species in the world. Among the four species of golden monkey, except Vietnamese golden monkey, which is only distributed in northern Vietnam, the other three species are endemic to Chinese mainland. Therefore, they should be regarded as China's "national treasures".

The study of Yunnan golden monkey can be traced back to a century ago. 187 1 year, a Frenchman named David reported the existence of this animal, which was not scientifically named according to rumors at that time. /kloc-in the winter of 0/890, two Frenchmen, Soli and Bilt, organized local hunters to capture seven Yunnan golden monkeys of different ages and sexes in Deqin County, and sent their skulls and skins to the Paris Museum. The French zoologist Milne-Edward made a scientific description of this species twice in 1897 and 1898, and formally named it. But since then, there has been no news of this mysterious animal. People thought it was extinct!

The research of China scientists on Yunnan golden monkey began after 1960, when eight skins of Yunnan golden monkey were collected in Deqin County, Yunnan Province to confirm its existence. However, the real on-the-spot scientific investigation on it began in the late 1970s, and three complete specimens were obtained for the first time, thus unveiling its mystery.

Since then, the protection of Yunnan golden monkey has attracted great attention of our government. 1983 established the first golden monkey reserve in Yunnan-Yunnan Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve, thus opening the prelude to the protection of this rare and endangered animal. Recently, Tibet Honglashan National Nature Reserve and Yunnan Yunling Provincial Nature Reserve have been established one after another.

These actions greatly promoted the protection of Yunnan golden monkey. In addition, the scientific research efforts of scientists in China in the past 20 years and various media reports have recognized the significance of global biodiversity protection in the world. It is particularly worth mentioning that since it became the mascot of 1999 Kunming World Horticultural Exposition, the popularity of Yunnan golden monkey has soared. Now, the China government has listed the golden monkey protection project as one of the fifteen special wildlife protection projects.