The number of black leaf monkeys, an endangered species in the world, has topped 1,200 in southwest China's Guizhou Province, a result of protective measures taken by the government and improved ecological environment in their habitats.

 

More than 800 such monkeys have been spotted in the state-level Mayang River Nature Reserve alone, according to sources with the nature reserve. There were only about 500 black leaf monkeys living in the nature reserve in 1987.

 

Black leaf monkeys were first spotted in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China, in 1889. The animals mainly live in Guizhou, Guangxi and Chongqing areas in China and northern part of Vietnam.

 

There are believed to be approximately 2,000 black leaf monkeys in the world. The animals are under state protection plan in China and are put on the red list of endangered species by the United Nations.

 

The Mayang River is the largest of the eight natures reserves for protecting black leaf monkeys in Guizhou, which covers more 31,000 hectares, and is home to more 266 species of wild animals, such as black bears, zibets and condors, and home to 478 varieties of vascular bundle plants.

 

The provincial government and forestry department of Guizhou have taken rigid measures to cope with the poaching of wildlife and have launched massive afforestation projects to improve the living environment of the wildlife in the nature reserve in recent years. Forest coverage rate in the Mayang River nature reserve now stands at 63 percent, according to sources with the nature reserve.

 

Workers in the nature reserve also put sweet potatoes, the favorite food of black leaf monkeys, in the wild to deal with food shortage of the rare creatures.

 

Guizhou also has the world's largest artificial breeding base where 98 black leaf monkeys live.

 

There are believed to be approximately 200 black leaf monkeys in Vietnam, and anywhere from 300 to 400 in Guangxi and about 300 in Chongqing.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2006)