According to Xinhua News Agency, Wuhan, June 29th, the results of the recent fourth survey of golden monkeys in Shennongjia forest area show that the population of golden monkeys in the forest area has improved significantly. Compared with the third survey in 2019, the population of golden monkeys increased by one, and the number increased by 147, reaching a total of 1618.
As the easternmost region in the world, Shennongjia is also the only region in the world where Sichuan golden monkey subspecies Hubei is distributed. In recent years, this population has become a typical isolated "small population" with the least number and the most endangered in Sichuan golden monkey.
According to the survey, in 1990, there were 5 groups and 501 golden monkeys in Shennongjia, with a habitat of 164 square kilometers. In 2005, there were 1282 individuals in 8 groups, with a habitat of 189 square kilometers. In 2019, there were 10 groups and 1471 animals, with a habitat of 354 square kilometers.
In order to fully grasp the number and distribution of golden monkey population in Shennongjia today and provide support for effectively protecting the flagship species in Shennongjia area, Shennongjia forest area organized the fourth survey.
Feng Wei, secretary of the Party Committee of Shennongjia Forest Region, said that the survey shows that there are 11 groups of golden monkeys in Shennongjia area, with a population of 1618, with a habitat area of 401 square kilometers.
Based on the distribution characteristics of Sichuan golden monkey and its flagship role in biodiversity conservation in Shennongjia, Hubei subspecies of Sichuan golden monkey was renamed as Shennongjia golden monkey in this survey, which is convenient for protection and management as an independent management unit.
Shennongjia is the only administrative region named after "forest region" in China, and it is a world-renowned biodiversity enrichment area and species gene bank. Over the years, Shennongjia forest region has firmly adhered to the bottom line of ecological security, continuously improved the diversity and stability of the ecosystem, implemented zoning, classification, control and negative list management, comprehensively promoted the management of lakes and grasses in landscape forest fields, and completed 24,000 mu of forest tending, 297,000 mu of degraded forest restoration and 1,028,600 mu of closing hillsides to facilitate afforestation. The forest coverage rate has stabilized at 91.12%, and the quality of ecological environment has been continuously improved. (Reporter Li Siyuan)
Editor Xin Jing