Flowers et al

By dandylion

Zoo

The survey team arrived in a new province today for a training workshop before we come back to start work in two weeks. We were staying opposite Nanning Zoo and were offered a free tour by one of our volunteers. It was an interesting mix of not ideal conditions (e.g. most of the macaques has mange, and the lone elephant was rocking backwards and forwards and repeating the same side-stepping dance every time we walked past all afternoon) and much animals in much better conditions in large well-designed enclosures.

This golden snub-nosed monkeys eating an apple was one of the lucky ones. Golden monkeys are only found in Southwest China and my Chinese colleagues are very proud of the research that is being carried out on the species at institutions here. My research assistant Haochun will start his PhD later this year looking at stress in wild populations of the species, which will involve him spending two years alone in the forest collecting urine. My PhD involved attending orchid shows in major cities, staying in nice hotels, and not collecting any urine. Social science was definitely the right discipline to move into.

Also, I think snub-nosed monkeys are creepy-looking, which is probably why this one looks angry with me.

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