| The Burmese snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri) is one of the most recently discovered discovered primate species, and only occurrs in the Gaoligong Mountain area along the border of Myanmar and China. Its ecology is largely unknown due to its harsh and remote habitat, which precludes tracking and direct observation. However, the study of this new species contributes to our understanding of how primates adapt to a high-altitude lifestyle. From May 2013 to March 2015, we conducted preliminary study of a group of R. strykeri, using a mix of direct observation and camera traps, at Pianma, Yunnan, China.We managed to observe R. strykeri in 11 days,30 and 26 camera traps captured totaling 231 images and 3 video footages which triggered by the passing of R. strykeri in two monitoring sessions. We counted more than 100 individuals forming a large group without aggression, observed presence of solitary male and fission-fusion behavior via direct observation. By examining the images obtained by camera traps, we identified five complete one-male, multi-female units and one all-male unit. Thus, we suggested social organization of R. strykeri was the multi-level society, as in other species of snub-nosed monkey. We also found that the ratios of adult females to infants (4.43:1) and adults to immatures (4.13:1) was high relative to stable Rhinopithecus populations, suggesting the population is in decline. R. strykeri ate at least 39 different parts of plants including leaf, flower, fruit, bud, stem, bark and calyx, as well as bamboo shoot and lichen. The vertical range of R. strykeri at Pianma varied from 2,300 m to 3,300 m. We preliminary estimated the group’s home range to be 22.30 km2 via the modified minimum convex polygon method. Our work shows that camera traps can be used effectively to survey rare primates, and R. strykeri is similar to the other members of its genus in both social organization and ecological characteristics. |
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