佛坪自然保护区川金丝猴种群动态（英文）

陕西佛坪国家级保护区是我国重要的自然保护区之一,包括大熊猫、金丝猴在内的很多珍稀濒危物种分布其中。20世纪90年代后期,全国林业开始实施"天然林保护工程",这对佛坪保护区当地的农业、工业、经济发展和生活质量产生了很大的影响。为了探究"天然林保护工程"对野生川金丝猴的保护产生何种影响,我们于2015年至2016年采用访问调查和实地踏查方法对佛坪保护区20世纪90年代至今的川金丝猴种群动态变化进行研究,结果发现不论是种群数量(从少于500只增至671只左右)还是栖息地面积(从147.8 km^2增至236.5 km^2)都明显增长;家域范围随着年代的推移向低海拔位置扩大(秋季平均海拔为1 680 m±304 m),越来越靠近人类;川金丝猴在家域范围内,对常绿阔叶林和落叶阔叶林有明显的选择偏好,活动比例分别达到了40.11%和38.41%。实施"天然林保护工程"后,当地农业开发和经济活动在逐渐转型,减少了人类活动对野生动物栖息地的干扰,提升了栖息地保护的质量和生态环境。因此,此项工程的实施在该地区川金丝猴保护方面表现出积极的效果,促进了当地金丝猴栖息地的改善,种群数量得以增加扩大,是一个野生动物保护的成功案例。

Infanticide in golden snub-nosed monkeys with multilevel society

Infanticide,killing unweaned offspring in conspecifics,occurs widely among mammals,such as rodents,ungulates,and carnivores,especially in primates(Lukas and Huchard 2014).Such scenarios are often triggered by intruders that have replaced the former dominant males in nonhuman primates(Borries 1997).It has widely been viewed that infanticide is one of the solutions of sexually driven evolutionary selection:males kill infants to end lactational amenorrhea of the victim's mothers,forcing them to return to estrus and providing infanticidal males with the opportunities to sire their new offspring(Hrdy 1979).There is a broad spectrum regarding the patterns and mechanisms causing such events,referring to alternative breeding behaviors and mating systems-monogamy,polyandry,polygyny,and promiscuity(Qi et al.2020).

Human activities and elevational constraints restrict ranging patterns of snub-nosed monkeys in a mountainous refuge

Both natural conditions and anthropogenic factors affect the survivability,distribution,and population density of wildlife.To understand the extent and how these factors drive species distributions,a detailed description of animal movement patterns in natural habitats is needed.In this study,we used satellite telemetry to monitor elevational ranges favored by endangered golden snub-nosed monkeys(Rhinopithecus roxellana),in the Qinling Mountains,central China.We investigated the abundance and distribution of food resources through sampling vegetation quadrats at different elevations and sampled anthropogenic activities using field surveys.Our results indicated that although there was no significant variation in food resources between low-(<1500 m)and middle-elevations(1500–2200 m),monkeys were found most often in areas above 1500 m,where there was less anthropogenic development(e.g.houses and roads);however,monkeys rarely ranged above 2200 m and had limited food availability at this altitude.There was limited human disturbance at this elevation.We suggest that both human activity and ecological constraints(i.e.food resources)have considerable effects on elevational use of R.roxellana in the Qinling Mountains.This study highlights the critical roles these factors can play in shaping the vertical distribution of high-altitude primates.This research provides useful insights for habitat-based conservation plans in which human disturbance management and habitat restoration should be prioritized.

Using unmanned aerial vehicles with thermal-image acquisition cameras for animal surveys:a case study on the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey in the Qinling Mountains

Following significant developments in technology,alternative devices have been applied in fieldwork for animal and plant surveys.Thermal-image acquisition cameras installed on unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have been used in animal surveys in the wilderness.This article demonstrates an example of how UAVs can be used in high mountainous regions,presenting a case study on the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey with a detection rate of 65.19%for positive individual identification.It also presents a model that can prospectively predict population size for a given animal species,which is based on combined initial work using UAVs and traditional surveys on the ground.A great potential advantage of UAVs is significantly shortening survey procedures,particularly for areas with high mountains and plateaus,such as the Himalayas,the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,Hengduan Mountains,the Yunnan-Gui Plateau and Qinling Mountains in China,where carrying out a traditional survey is extremely difficult,so that species and population surveys,particularly for critically endangered animals,are largely absent.This lack of data has impacted the management of endangered animals as well as the formulation and amendment of conservation strategies.

Facial expression recognition in golden snub-nosed monkeys

For socialized animals,such as prinlates,emotions arc the expression of internal states,which may be recognized by others to adjust an in dividual's potential actions(Girard and Bellone 2020).Facial expressions are therefore important signals in communication(e.g.,happy or in pain)and can help individuals understand potential meanings between each other(Dolensek et al.2020).Facial expressions can be expressed and processed freely and are useful in social interactions and bonding(Waller et al.2016).

Kinship promotes affiliative behaviors in a monkey

In social mammals, kinship is an important factor that often affects the interactions among individuals within groups. In primates that live in a multilevel society, kinship may affect affiliative patterns be- tween individuals at different scales within the larger group. For this study, we use field observations and molecular methods to reveal the profiles of how kinship affects affiliative behaviors between indi- viduals in a breeding band of wild golden snub-nosed monkeys （Rhinopithecus roxellana）. We use a novel nonparametric test, the partition Mantel test, to measure independently the correlation between kinship and each of three affiliative behaviors. Our results show that more closely related females are more likely to groom each other. Average relatedness between adult females within the same onemale unit （OMU） is higher than that between adult females from different OMUs. We suggest that closely related females may reside in the same OMU in order to attain inclusive fitness benefits, and that kinship plays an important role in maintaining the social structure of this species.

Sexual interference and allomaternal behavior as predictors of rank recognition in female golden snub-nosed monkeys

Rank recognition allows social animals to adapt to complex and changeable environments and to cope with hierarchical relationships within their societies(Crone 2017).Rank recognition can improve the distribution of advantageous resources,individual adaptation,and social cohesion among group-living animals(Marmolejo-Ramos and Angiulli 2014).Empirical evidence suggests that rank recognition is a basic behavioral manifestation of social cognition adopted by a wide range of insects,birds,and mammals,including nonhuman primates(Schmitt and Fischer 2011;Smith et al.2017).Unlike most other vertebrates,primates have unusually large brains and form complex social groups.