Endangered Golden Monkeys(金丝猴)

There are three species of the Chinese Golden Monkey. They are Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou Golden Monkeys. Yunnan Golden Monkeys live in the depths of Chinese fir forests in the snow covered mountains of Yunnan-Tibeten areas, with the population of about one thousand.
Guizhou Golden Monkeys are usually found in Fanjfngshan Mountain in Guizhou Province. Its population is just over 700. The most widely known species is Sichuan Golden Monkeys that are distributed in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Hubei and Gansu. They live in broadleaf forests or coniferous and broadleaved forests 1, 400-3, 000 meters above sea level. Their habitat is almost the same as that of the Giant Panda. And like Giant Panda, the Golden Monkey is unable to bear scorching heat and can survive severe cold. The Golden Monkey is a gregarious animal that live in family groups, with the biggest herds of up to 600 individuals. Such a large group is something of a rarity in primates.
The Golden Monkeys mainly live in trees and they also seek food on the ground. Their main food includes tree leaves, tender branches, flowers, fruits, bark, roots, insects, birds and bird eggs.
The Golden Monkeys have been on loan display in foreign countries for many times, attracting the adoration from people of al countries.
The Golden Monkeys are rare and obscure, and they're just beginning to be studied. They are highly endangered, so it's a race to study them before they disappear.
Living in the mountains of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan Provinces, Chinese Golden Monkeys are seeing their habitats disappear rapidly as the countryside is cleared for more pastures, villages and roads.
The monkeys are killed for their beautiful fire-orange fur and also their bones, which are believed by Asians to hold special medicinal powers.
In the past 40 years, the living area of the Yunnan Golden Monkeys have shrunk by a third, while the pasture areas created by fire and timber harvesting have doubled.
More than 86 percent of monkey groups were separated by roads and villages, which blocked communication and resulted in in-breeding and species degeneration. Small groups in the forests have been wiped out. Those that are left are too few to carry on the species line and are at the edge of extinction.
Chinese scientists confirmed the existence of Yunnan Golden Monkeys in 1962 and listed them on the top protection list in 1977. State-run nature reserves were set up later, but illegal hunting continued because the monkey's brain is considered a delicacy in some local cuisine.