The karst area with lush subtropical vegetation in southern Guangxi is one of the most typical and concentrated karst landform distribution areas in China and even the world. Here the stone mountains are continuous, although the mountains are not high, but the peaks are steep and steep, rising from the ground, cliffs and karst caves can be seen everywhere. In this ubiquitous cliff face is inhabited by an endangered species, the white-headed langur.
The picture shows a family of white-headed langur monkeys, and it is very difficult to see a large family like this to feed on the same tree. (Photo by Liang Jipeng)
White-headed langur is endemic to China, in China's existing 6 species of langurs - black langur, white-headed langur, long-tailed langur, Fei's langur, hat-wearing langur and white-rumped langur, only the white-headed langur is unique to China, and only distributed in a very narrow triangle between the Zuojiang and Mingjiang rivers in Guangxi, with an area of less than 200 square kilometers, including Shangjin Township in Longzhou County, Guangxi, Tingliang, Dulong Township, Luobai, Shuhu Town, And Lu town in Jiangzhou District; Dongmen Township.
In the early 1950s, zoologist Tan Bangjie discovered a primate fur with a slender body, a white head and shoulders, and a black rest of the tail in Longzhou County, southern Guangxi, and a tail longer than the length of the body, which was initially judged to be a primate that had never been reported and never recognized by the outside world. A few years later, with the help of locals, he discovered the monkey in Longzhou County, and named it the white-headed langur based on its body shape and body color, white-headedlangur in English, and presbytis luecocephalus tan in Latin, and published it in Biology Newsletter in 1955. The white-headed langur became the world's first primate named after Chinese.
An adult white-headed langur. (Photo by Wang Hanjun)
Because of changes in the ecological environment and the impact from human life, the population of the white-headed langur has been shrinking for a long period of time. In 1996, when Professor Pan Wenshi of Peking University went deep into The Former Chongzuo County (now Jiangzhou District, Chongzuo City) to luobai township nongguan mountain and began to study the white-headed langur, it was statistically found that there were only more than 200 white-headed langurs in the area. In 2003, guangxi normal university, Peking university and southwest forestry university three units jointly formed a scientific expedition to conduct a comprehensive survey of the population of white-headed langur monkeys, and the data obtained was more than 600. What does this six hundred or so mean? It means that it is rarer than giant pandas.
With the joint efforts of many parties, the species of white-headed langur has gradually become widely recognized. At the same time, the state actively carries out the protection of white-headed langurs, and has successively established the Guangxi Chongzuo White-headed Langur National Nature Reserve and the Nongguan White-headed Langur Ecological Park (Chongzuo Biodiversity Research Base of Peking University) in Fusui County and Jiangzhou District of Chongzuo City, and the population of white-headed langurs has been effectively protected, and by the end of 2016, the number has risen to about 1,000.
White-headed langur over 2 years old. Photo by Liang Jipeng
Today, the white-headed langur remains one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world and is recognized as the rarest monkey in the world. White-headed langurs have not found live animals or specimens abroad so far. In China's "List of Wild Animals under National Key Protection", the white-headed langur is listed as a first-class protected animal and listed as an endangered species in the "Red Book of Endangered Animals in China". Expert studies have shown that white-headed langurs are more closely related to humans, have more genetic genes that are identical to humans, and have more complex social formations. The research value of the white-headed langur is no less than that of the giant panda, and it is attracting more and more attention from the biological community.
Source: Excerpt from Beautiful Guangxi Magazine, Issue 03, 2017
Wen\ Zhou Lei
Photo\ Liang Jipeng Wang Hanjun Yan Zaoxin
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