Zhiyong Fan, MS,^* and Yanling Song^†

Nineteen species of primates are distributed in China, including three families and six genera (Table 1). There are perhaps 21 species of Taiwan macaque (Macaca cyclopis, only distributed in Taiwan with 7000 individuals) and douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus, only recorded in Hainan in 1892) are counted. Loris (Nycticebus spp.) and gibbons (Hylobates spp.) mainly range in Yunnan, with some in Guangxi and Hainan. Langurs (Presbytis spp. and Trachypithecus spp.) are mainly in Southwest China and Guangxi. Snub-nosed monkeys (Pygathrix spp.) are in Southwest China, with some in Gansu, Shaanxi, and Hubei. The species of macaques have wide distribution in China and range mostly south of Yellow River. The stumptail macaque (Macaca arctoides) is in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, and Fujian; the Assamese macaque (Macaca assamensis) in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Tibet; the pigtail macaque (Macaca nemestrina) in Yunnan; the Tibetan macaque (Macaca thibetana) is endemic to China and in Southwest and Middle China, southern parts of Gansu, and Shaanxi, Guangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang; and the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) has the widest distribution in China and is mostly in the areas to the south of Yellow River but mainly in the southern part of China.

TABLE 1

Wild Primates in China.

All species of primates in China are protected by the Wildlife Protection Law of China and are listed in the China Red Data Book. Only three species of macaques (M. arctoides, M. thibetana, and M. mulatta) are the second class protected wildlife of national importance, and the rest are all first class, which are strictly forbidden for hunting and killing. Four species of macaques are vulnerable, and the rest are endangered according to the China Red Data Book. These species are also in the 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Table 1). Clearly, it is difficult to be optimistic about the status of Chinese primates. There are more than 10,000 individuals in these five species, and only limited numbers of stumptail macaque and rhesus macaque are allowed to be caught for commercial purposes in China. The main threats to primates are loss of habitat, habitat fragmentation, human-caused mortality, lack of knowledge about population numbers and status on which to base sound management decisions, and lack of management to limit mortality to sustainable levels and to conserve necessary habitat.

Almost all primate species in China inhabit forests or areas with forests (especially natural forests). China's long exploitation history is mostly in forest areas, which were once suitable for agriculture but are now gone forever. The forests have decreased to 14%, with much damaged or young secondary growth. At least 70% of the primate habitats have been lost in the last 50 years with population growth, logging, reclamation, settlements, and so forth. Habitats have become fragmented and smaller, and some geographical populations have disappeared. Some primate species were once used for local traditional medicines (e.g., Presbytis francoisi), pelt animals (e.g., Pygathrix bieti), pests (e.g., M. thibetana), or as pets (M. mulatta). Such human-caused mortality has resulted in their endangered status in China.

China has paid great attention to wildlife protection in past 20 years, with the development of international biodiversity conservation. The key to wildlife conservation is to protect its habitat. To complement the Wildlife Protection Law, there are 1276 nature reserves covering a of total 123 million ha and occupying 12.44% of the total territory of China. One fourth of these reserves are related to primate conservation. Some of the 1050 forest parks occupy 9.8 million ha, and the primates' habitats, which also play an important role in their protection. All of these natural areas protect a majority of endangered and rare wild fauna and flora species and their habitats, protecting 20 million ha natural forests, which occupy 14.6% of the total areas of forest. Since 2000, the Chinese government has banned any logging on natural forests in the National 10th Five-year Social and Economic Development Plant. The State Forestry Administration has implemented the National Natural Forest Protection Project and has begun the National Wildlife Conservation and Natural Reserves Construction Project, which includes 15 Rescuing Wildlife Programs (including primates and more than 100 endangered species), planning to establish 500 more new nature reserves and wetland conservation areas by 2010. Implementation of these projects should dramatically increase the ability to conserve wildlife resources and their habitats, and especially to maintain and even expand the populations of the most endangered wildlife. However, half of the primate species in China are critically endangered and have narrow ranges, and it will be difficult to restore and protect them.

There are five species of primates used in China for biomedical research. Two species, the crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis) and the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) are alien. The other three species, pigtail, stumptail, and rhesus macaques, are indigenous and had wild populations of 900, 70,000 and 200,000 individuals respectively, in the 1990s (Table 1). The common marmoset (≤95 individuals) is bred in captivity only at Tianjin Medical University and is used for biomedical research. The stumptail and pigtail macaques are not common as laboratorial animals and are currently used only for pharmaceutical tests on hair growth in China. These two species (total of 115 individuals) are raised only in Kunming Zoological Institutes and the Shared Animal Health & Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., where they are bred in captivity. The main threats to them are forest destruction and illegal hunting.

The main primate species used for biomedical research in China are the crab-eating and rhesus macaques. The former was introduced into China in the late 1980s, mainly from Vietnam (Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar) through border trading, and has been bred in captivity very successfully. China has now established several self-sustaining populations with more than 47,000 individuals. The rhesus macaque, the traditional species for biomedical research worldwide, also has been bred in captivity successfully since the 1950s. There are several self-sustained populations in China, with more than 20,000 individuals (Table 2).

TABLE 2

The Captive Breeding and the Exportation of Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) and Crab-eating Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) for Biomedical Research in China in 2001.

The rhesus macaque is abundant in China in the wild and is estimated to total approximately 200,000 presently. It is reported that there are about 10,000 in Guangdong (including Hainan Island), 30,000 to 50,000 in Guangxi and Guizhou separately, 50,000 to 60,000 in Yunnan, and 30,000 to 40,000 in other provinces. Compared with the status in 1950s, its population has greatly declined, as much as 70 to 80%. The main threats are habitat loss and being hunted as pests (Liu 1998).

According to the authors' investigation in 2002 (Table 2), the 23 primate captive breeding farms (PCBFs) for biomedical research in China are in (number in parentheses) Beijing (2), Shanghai (3), Yunnan (3), Guangxi (8), Guangdong (4), Jiangxi (1), Zhejiang (1), and Jiangsu (1), with 46,932 individuals of crab-eating and 19,888 rhesus macaques. The halves of colonies are breeding groups. In 2001, 15,657 baby crab-eating macaques and 5312 baby rhesus macaques were born in captivity in 23 PCBFs, with birth ratios as high as 33.36 and 26.71%, respectively.

The rhesus macaque has been exported from China since 1984, and the crab-eating macaque since 1990. The main import countries are Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and the United States; and others include Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, and Canada. China exported 6765 crab-eating macaques and 2363 rhesus macaques in 2001. Compared with 2000 and 1999, the export numbers increased 4.9 and 35.8% in crab-eating macaques, and 22.1 and 115.2% in rhesus macaques. In China, the export increase has brought about a great advance in PCBFs, which have successfully collaborated in management, exportation, and captive breeding. Eight PCBFs of Guangxi are managed as one group by the Guangxi Laboratorial Primate Research Center, with 4161 rhesus macaque individuals and 29,687 crab-eating macaques in captivity. The Shared Animal Health and Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., together with Kaiping Yuejing Rare Animal Farm in Guangdong and Ningbo Primate Farm in Zhejiang, owns 3494 rhesus macaques and 3978 crab-eating macaques. The Yunnan National Laboratorial Primate Center owns 3040 rhesus macaques and 7200 crab-eating macaques. Some of them not only breed primates for biomedical research and exportation but also establish laboratories for foreigners to come to China for primate biomedical research. These data indicate that China has great potential in the exportation of these two species. The data show export of 44.5 and 43.2% of rhesus macaques and crab-eating macaques individuals, with breeding populations as large as 10,871 and 23,704 individuals of the two species respectively, which have reproduced 5312 and 15,657 rhesus and crab-eating macaque babies in 2001, respectively.

Although crab-eating and rhesus macaques are available from PCBFs in China, it is difficult to apply for the permits for catching wild primates for biomedical research according to the Wildlife Protection Law. Some species, especially the first class protected species of primates, are never allowed to be caught from the wild. Permits to catch the second class protected species of primates from the wild must be issued by wildlife management authorities in the province, who often refuse because they are endangered in the provinces. In addition, because the price of monkeys from PCBFs is quite high for many Chinese researchers, some research institutes breed primates themselves to support their biomedical research.