Monkey business proves profitable
Once endangered, wild macaques are now flourishing in ‘Little Three Gorges’
I hope both the wild macaques and humans can have a better life together.” Dai Guangqun, feeder of wild macaques in Wushan county, Chongqing
Every Tuesday morning, a small boat docks at four sites along the Daning River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, and Dai Guangqun begins to scatter 500 kilograms of corn.
He whistles, one long blast and two short, to signal to his furry friends that their weekly banquet is ready. The wild macaques soon arrive in their thousands.
The State-protected monkeys have long lived on the banks of the upper Yangtze, as described in a poem by the poet Li Bai (701-762): “With monkeys at riverbanks chattering ceaselessly and loud, my boat has left ranges of mountains far behind.”
However, increased human activity and the unrestrained felling of trees have made the primates a rare sight — until recently.
In the mid-1990s, there were fewer than 100 wild macaques at the Longmen, Bawu and Dicui gorges in Chongqing’s Wushan county, collectively known as the “Little Three Gorges”. Today, the population has surpassed 3,000, according to Tao Jubin at the county tourism bureau.
Dai provides corn and other food for the monkeys as well as collecting garbage from surrounding scenic spots. Like so many people who grew up along the Yangtze, he once cut down trees to plant crops, burning the wood for heating and cooking.
However, as the public gradually became aware of the environmental damage, the Chongqing government made moves to protect the wildlife and expand vegetation.
Many villagers in the mountains were relocated to reduce their impact on wild macaque habitats, river ports were closed, and the public was banned from felling trees.
The hard work has paid off, with the monkey population now flourishing. However, this has brought a new set of problems. As there is not enough wild fruit in the mountains, the monkeys often scamper downhill and steal corn from surrounding fields.
To help primates and humans get along, the Wushan government spends about 1 million yuan ($150,000) a year on food for the macaques, leading to a distinct decline in the theft of villagers’ crops.
Xu Zhiqing, a researcher at the Chongqing Natural History Museum, said in the past, people occupied too much of the monkey’s habitat. The food supply serves as a form of reparation, and such moderate intervention is a plausible and ecologically sustainable way to protect wildlife.
The government also offers coal subsidies to over 100 households to discourage them from felling trees, and a scenic spot was set up in 2007 to bring in extra money for villagers.
In nearby Jing’an village, residents have opened more than 30 family guesthouses, with each earning 50,000 to 60,000 yuan a year.
But tourism is being developed carefully so as not to disturb the wild macaques. In 2010, a glass skywalk on a cliff was built to offer a better view for tourists to observe the macaques, but the monkeys welcomed the visitors by throwing rocks, and the skywalk was soon shut down.
Now, tourists are only allowed to see the primates from boats traveling up and down the river.
Carrying empty feed sacks on his shoulders, Dai returns to his boat and watches the animals as they wolf down the corn, a much-favored food.
He has become good friends with the macaques. While they would once flee to the forests on hearing a human voice, when they hear Dai’s whistle they appear instantly, some even going so far as to imitate his sound.
“There are eight monkey kings in the area, and I know all of them,” Dai said proudly. “I hope both the wild macaques and humans can have a better life together.”