China is taking steps to improve the world's only zoology park for white-headed leaf monkeys in Chongzuo County of Guangxi Zhuang Municipality.
A resort, which includes the zoology park, will cover 30 square kilometers when work is completed and 30 million yuan (US$ 3.6 million) will be invested in the project, said He Min, head of Chongzuo County. The project will begin this year and the plan calls for completion in 2002.
The white-headed leaf monkey, whose scientific name is presbytis leucocephalus, belongs to the family of cercopithecidae. It is very similar to the black-headed leaf monkey except that the hair on its head is white. Some of the species also have white hair on the end of their tails as well as other parts. Some zoologists believe the white-headed leaf monkey is the Asian species for the black-headed one.
Research results show that Guangxi is the only habitat of the white-headed leaf monkey in the world and it is the rarest in the monkey family. Chinese scientists have established the number of white-haired leaf monkeys at about 700 after more than three years of research.
The zoology park, named Nongguan, covers about 24 square kilometers. The biggest group of the white-headed leaf monkeys in the world lives in the park, about 240 monkeys in 18 coveys, according to He. Many world-class rare species of animals and plants can be found in this park, including a rare species of camellia and the smallest snake in the world.
According to Professor Pan Wenshi, director of the center for panda and other wild animal protection research at Beijing University, building the zoology park could not only benefit the global research of white-headed leaf monkeys but also could protect the environment.
(Eastday. com 10/20/2000)
