Guizhou golden monkey bred in Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve

The wildlife rescue center of the Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve Administration successfully breeds its third baby Guizhou golden monkey through artificial reproduction. [Photo/ddcpc website]

Xiaofan, a rescued female Guizhou golden monkey at the wildlife rescue center of the Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve Administration in Southwest China's Guizhou province, gave birth to a baby monkey on April 13.

The baby monkey is the third to be successfully bred by the center since 2018. There are currently only five artificially-fed Guizhou golden monkeys at the center and another five at the Beijing Zoo.

Guizhou golden monkeys give birth every two years and are very difficult to artificially feed. The first two baby monkeys born at the center were both male, and the gender of the third baby monkey is yet to be determined.

Researchers at the center have prepared nutritious food to help Xiaofan recover from the delivery and breastfeed the baby monkey. Both monkeys are being monitored 24 hours a day to ensure their health.

The successful birth of the baby monkey shows the rescue center's progress in the ex-situ conservation of rare wildlife and achievements in protecting species with extremely small populations.

Guizhou golden monkeys are rarer than pandas and under national first-class protection. They can only be found at the Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve in Guizhou's Tongren city.

Due to biodiversity protection efforts in recent years, Guizhou now has 313 nature reserves, 11 national nature reserves, 154 wildlife species under national protection, and 159 wild plant species under national protection.

The province is now establishing a nature reserve system focusing on national parks and accelerating the construction of an ecological civilization pilot zone. In the future, the Guizhou Forestry Department will devote itself to the ex-situ conservation of rare wildlife and the expansion of wildlife species through artificial feeding.