------Program code: NS-080813-03589 (what's this?)
Source: CCTV.com
08-13-2008 10:36
The Qinling golden monkey belongs to the family of the Sichuan snub-nosed langur. Thirty-nine monkey colonies have been identified in the Qinling area, comprising more than 4,000 golden monkeys all together.
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Deck never allows his eyes to move from his mate, Yuanyuan, sitting in the tree.
In the morning, Yuanyuan gives birth to her first baby, a male who will become known as Little Yuan.
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After the labor, Yuanyuan is exhausted
An excited Deck announces Little Yuan’s arrival to the rest of the colony.
Three months later, it’s summer in the Qinling Mountains. In the course of thousands of years, the wind, rain, ice and snow have carved the mountain ranges into a series of valleys connecting the various peaks. The high mountains and dense forests prevent humans from entering, so the terrain remains undamaged.
Yuanyuan is looking after her growing son. Little Yuan’s fur, having been dark to start with, is now turning pale yellow.
The little monkeys born last year are chasing and playing not far away.
The warm and humid southeastern monsoon winds blow across the open valley of the Hanjiang River, and on into the Qinling Mountains hinterland.
The summer afternoons are extremely hot. The monkeys are sleeping.
The golden monkeys live in the coniferous and broadleaf forests, at a height between 1,400 and 2,600 meters. During the summer, food is abundant and easy to find. So the monkeys have time to spare to visit their relatives and friends in other colonies.
The young monkeys have the chance to play with others of the same age. Even Little Yuan is now old enough to join in the fun.
There are contrasting scenes at different elevations in the Mountains.
The Qinling Mountains, extending over 800 km from east to west, are 200km across at their widest from north to south. In the narrow area from the Hanjiang River Valley to the main peak of the Taibai Mountain, the difference in height is 3,200 meters. The various steps of this vast elevation offer enormous diversity of climates and vegetation, ranging from alpine meadow, coniferous forest, and Coniferous and broadleaf mixed forest, to deciduous and evergreen broadleaf forests. The temperature difference from mountain top to valley is 30 degrees centigrade. The mountain is said to offer four seasons in one day.
With the rich forests and diverse environments, the Qinling Mountains are one of the most significant sources of biological diversity in the world.
Many of the animals here reveal features of the transition between the semitropical zone and warm temperate zone.
Summer, when the snow melts, is the only time of the year when the animals can make it to the top of the mountain. Takins are expert mountain climbers. Their highly developed hind legs can carry a half-ton body and leap onto rocks over a meter high.
