Gibbon guardians at Wuliang nature reserve

Three groups of the eastern black crested gibbon, a species under first-class state protection in China, live in the Wuliang Mountains national nature reserve in southwest Yunnan’s Jingdong county, which lies over 2,000 meters above sea level.

To better protect the rare species, the reserve management hired local villagers as gibbon guardians, who guide researchers in trekking through the dense woods for data collection. One of the zoologists is Lan Liying, a PhD candidate at Sun Yat-Sen University.

Locals once called the gibbon “wind monkey” for their speedy disappearance at the sight of humans. Thanks to frequent visits by the guardians, the gibbon has got used to humans and they no longer hide themselves fast.

As protective data are gathered with higher accuracy, the gibbon population in the area has increased to over 500. At dawn, gibbon voices are heard from the Wulaing Mountains.

Reporting by Chen Xinbo (Xinhua); Trans-editing by Wang Shixue