Latitude 31°N
In the mysterious primeval forest of Shennongjia, Hubei
A group of "golden elves" live
They are the famous golden snub-nosed monkeys
Recently, the government of Shennongjia Forest District, Hubei Province held a press conference on the "Shennongjia Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Population Survey Results" to announce that the golden snub-nosed monkey population living in Shennongjia will be officially named "Shennongjia Golden Snub-nosed Monkey" and will be protected and managed as an independent management unit.
What was the Shennongjia golden snub-nosed monkey called before?
Li Ming, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that Shennongjia is the easternmost area of the world's golden snub-nosed monkey, and it is also the only distribution area in the world of the Hubei subspecies of the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey - the Shennongjia golden snub-nosed monkey.
Therefore, before the "name change", their official name should be "Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey Hubei subspecies", or "Shennongjia Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey".
Why change the name?
"There are obvious differences between the Shennongjia and non-Shennongjia populations of the Hubei subspecies of the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey." Li Ming said.
Compared with the non-Shennongjia population, the Shennongjia snub-nosed monkey has obvious morphological differences, such as the absence of nasal bones, the fusion of the upper part of the front maxillary and the labial foramen, the longer tail, almost 125% of the length of the head and body, the longer forelimbs, and the pale golden red back.
There was obvious genetic differentiation between the Shennongjia population and the non-Shennongjia population, but there was still a certain gene flow between the non-Shennongjia population, and there were positive selection signals in the functional genes related to organ and morphological development in the Shennongjia population, indicating that the Shennongjia and non-Shennongjia populations had different adaptability.
Under the influence of human activities and future climate change, the population of Shennongjia golden snub-nosed monkey is more vulnerable than other populations in terms of ecology and genome, so more attention needs to be paid to it in future conservation planning.
In addition, according to Li Ming, there are also obvious differences in the Shennongjia population in terms of evolutionary history and genetic diversity, "and we believe that it can be protected and managed as an independent management unit."
At the press conference, the relevant person in charge of the Shennongjia Forest Area announced that after more than two months of investigation by scientific researchers, it was determined that there are 11 populations and 1,618 golden snub-nosed monkeys in Shennongjia, an increase of about 10% over 2019; The habitat area is 401 square kilometers, an increase of about 13%.
It is understood that in 1990, 2005 and 2019, the Shennongjia Forest Area conducted three surveys on the golden snub-nosed monkeys distributed in Shennongjia, and the survey showed that there were 5 groups and 501 golden monkeys in 1990 with a habitat of 164 square kilometers, 8 groups and 1282 individuals with a habitat of 189 square kilometers in 2005, and 10 groups and 1471 individuals with a habitat of 354 square kilometers in 2019.
Source: People's Daily Online-Hubei Channel Zhou Tian Yu Ling, Hubei Release, Hubei Radio and Television Shennongjia Reporter Station