CHINESE PRIMATES

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July 1996:

Amid ongoing controversy
over how and whether to protect
the commercially valuable old
growth forest in Deqing county,
Yunnan province, home of about
200 of the last wild snubnosed golden
monkeys, China has at least two
other primate conservaton problems.
One is the recent rediscovery
of a mouse-sized marmoset in the
Wuyi mountains of eastern Fujian
province. The seven-ounce marmoset
was a prestigious pet circa
800 years ago, but was long
believed extinct. The other problem
is the rapid decline of black
gibbons, the most primitive of the
great apes, on Hainan island. Only
15 to 20 black gibbons remain,
down from a reported 2,000 some
40 years ago.