Physical Characteristics
The golden snub-nosed monkey is 21 ½ to 28 inches long with a 20 ½ to 30 inch long tail. It weighs about 28 to 46 pounds. It has long fur and a bush tail. Its limbs are strong and stout with stubby fingers.
Behavioral Characteristics
The golden snub-nosed monkey lives in groups. It is both arboreal and terrestrial, spending time in the trees and on the ground. Troops of these monkeys include hundreds of individuals. However the large troops are then split up into bands. Each band has only a single male and several females with their young. The male mates with all the females in his band.
Life Cycle
The golden snub-nosed monkey breeds between August and November. It is the female that initiates breeding activities. She will make eye contact and playfully run away a short distance from the male. She will also lay on the floor with her anogenital region pointed toward the male. The male is only interested about half the time but if he is he will mount her. Mating must be done many times because ejaculation only occurs in a small percentage of matings. Mating does occur outside of the breeding season but ejaculation does not. The time interval between one birth and the next for a single female is unknown. The female produces only a single young and gestation or pregnancy lasts for 7 months. The female becomes sexually mature at around 4 to 5 years old and stays with her mother’s band. The male becomes sexually mature at around 7 years and must leave to find his own females. The golden snub-nosed monkey lives about 26 years in captivity, probably less in the wild.
Diet
The diet of the golden snub-nosed monkey consists mainly of leaves, seeds, lichen and fruit. Bands forage together on the ground and in the trees.
Habitat
The golden snub-nosed monkey is found in Eastern Asia. It prefers areas of cold mountain forests. Its winters usually average temperatures of 23 degrees Fahrenheit.
Conservation Status
The golden snub-nosed monkey is classified as endangered on the IUCN (International Union of Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) red list of threatened species. Over the past 3 generations which is about 40 years for this species the populations has decreased by at least 50 percent. This is all due to loss of its forest habitat. The population is continuing to decline. The decline however has decreased in some areas.
References:
Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World’s Wildlife by, David Burnie and Don E. Wilson
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Rhinopithecus_roxellana.html
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/19596/0
