"Once upon a time there was a mountain, and there was a monkey on the mountain, known as the Monkey King..." On the steep rock walls on both sides of the Yili River Grand Canyon in Laochang Township, Huize County, Yunnan Province, a group of wild macaques also lived. According to local forestry department staff, the number of wild macaques here is increasing year by year.
The Yili River, formerly known as the "Yini River", comes from the Yi language. "To" is water, "ni" is willow, that is, the meaning of willow by the river, so it is also called "willow river". The Yili River is a first-class tributary of the right bank of the Jinsha River, with a total length of 122 kilometers. There are 31.94 kilometers in Laochang Township, where the mountains are steep, the surges are rapid, the springs are everywhere, and the trees are shady and mysterious.
The Wangjiawan Sub Group of Laochang Village is located on the cliff of the Grand Canyon of the Eli River, and the cliff cliff opposite the village is the area where this group of macaques is active. On February 22, the reporter saw here that macaques on the cliffs were in groups, shuttling up and down the forest, chasing and fighting, screaming for a while, jumping on tree branches for a while, and having a lot of fun.
For many years, Wang Yuzhi, the former head of the forestry station in Laochang Township, has been protecting this group of monkeys. On the 22nd, Wang Yuzhi, whose foot injury was not yet complete, took the rangers to patrol the mountains in the area of Wangjiawanzi, where monkeys were infested.
Wang Yuzhi told reporters that the monkeys have been in the Grand Canyon for a long time, and he first took photos in 1991. The village elders told him that there were monkeys here more than 100 years ago.
Wang Yingtao, a 56-year-old ranger, said: "We saw monkeys when we were young, and there are more monkeys than before. ”
Wang Yuzhi said: "When I joined the work, there were probably 60 or 70 monkeys. Through the management and care of the past few years, it has now grown to 12 or 30. We have rangers here to take care of them. In winter and spring, when food is scarce, we put grain, sweet potatoes, broad beans and other foods for them to eat. In the past, when the broad beans were eaten, they would come down to steal the broad beans of the masses, and when the grain was eaten, they would break the grain, and when the artichokes were eaten, they would come to shave. Sometimes, the bao valley is broken by them piece by piece! ”
Monkeys steal the crops of the masses, how do the rangers guide the local people to love the monkeys?
Wang Yuzhi said: "In order to protect the wild macaques, the local people have really paid a lot. After the macaques eat the crops of the masses, the masses will call us, and we will do the ideological work of the masses. Tell everyone that macaques are national second-class protected animals, no one is allowed to fight, if you eat less, forget it, eat more, and strive to fight for certain compensation from insurance companies. "We tell the masses that we must give up small interests in order to bring big benefits." It is necessary to publicize the Wangjia Wanzi, Meijia River Dam, and Bison Stream. ”
Wang Yuzhi said: "This group of monkeys is a group of monkeys, these days there is a lack of food, they are divided into two groups, and the other group is foraging in another place. "We're sure it's a monkey herd, and if it's two monkey herds we're going to fight." Last year, we met more than 90 monkeys on Monkey Rock opposite! "Over the years, we've had a lot of publicity. The monkeys are very active and can go as far as the cliff opposite the township hall. In July and August, all the peaches in Dayaoping Village are shaken off by monkeys, they can't eat much, but they can't eat them, they shake the peaches off the trees. This year and the year before last, the monkeys also went to the area around the viewing cliff to find food. ”
The macaques in the Grand Canyon of the Yili River live on the mountains opposite Wangjiawan and Meijia River Dam all year round, and are known locally as Monkey Rock. On Monkey Rock, a large number of cacti grow, and plants such as fragrant wood grow, and in the winter and spring when food is scarce, the leaves of cactus and fragrant wood become their food.
To help the monkeys survive periods of food scarcity, rangers occasionally sprinkle corn for the monkeys to eat.
Wang Yingtao said: "Last night I came here to see that there were many monkeys playing at the bottom of the river, and the bun grain that was scattered yesterday had already been eaten. "They're eating right underneath, and yesterday we went to Sabao Valley and there was a monkey sitting on a hill looking at us and pushing a rock down to scare us!"
In May 2022, after the Rong Media Center of Huize County and Laochang Township launched a series of reports on the Grand Canyon of the Li River, the popularity of the Grand Canyon of the Li River became more and more high, and more and more tourists came to admire it, some of which came to see the monkeys on purpose.
Wang Yuzhi said: "Through propaganda, people come every day. Coupled with Douyin and WeChat, more and more people watch monkeys. "The township attaches great importance to it, we must protect the monkey no matter what, it is a national second-class protected animal, this is the responsibility of our forestry department." Even if the monkeys eat the masses, we will persuade everyone that having monkeys is the pride of the locality. At present, the common people have regarded monkeys as elves. ”
In the past, some tourists would use drones to photograph monkeys, but after the rangers found out, they stopped them. Wang Yuzhi said: "We all tell everyone that you can't use drones, once you use them, you will scare the monkeys, and you won't dare to come down for four or five months." ”
Li Shichun, the leader of the villagers' group, said: "Putting drones will scare the monkeys into coming, and now we advocate that we can only watch, not scare." Everyone is welcome to take a look. ”
Chen Peichang, secretary of the general party branch of Laochang Village, said: "In order to protect the second-class protected animals (macaques), after the masses on the rocks plant the crops, they will always put on the horn to prevent the monkeys from destroying the crops of the masses, and also let the masses not harm the monkeys." ”
The staff of the old factory has been preaching to the masses about the relevant laws and regulations for the protection of macaques and mobilizing everyone to love and protect them. The crowd was also very supportive of their work, and there were no incidents of monkey harm.
In 2018, Wang Yuzhi once rescued a monkey, it is estimated that he lost a fight, was bitten all over his body, and the wound was quite inflamed. Wang Yuzhi raised it for ten months before the macaque recovered its health.
When Wang Yuzhi talked about his past with the rescued macaques, he couldn't help but open his mobile phone and show us the photos. He said that the monkey was very fun, and whoever approached it except himself would bark, but he was very well-behaved with it. Wang Yuzhi took careful care, at the beginning the monkey's weight was only more than 30 pounds, and when the wound was raised, it had 56 pounds, and the buttocks were all round.
With the increasing popularity of the Grand Canyon of the Yili River, more and more tourists come to admire it, which has driven the development of local catering, accommodation and other industries. On holidays, the hotels and restaurants in the market town are often full.
In the winter of 2022, Laochang Township organized cadres and workers to plant 50 acres of cherry trees in the Grand Canyon of the Yili River, planning to build the Grand Canyon into a demonstration point for the integrated development of agriculture and tourism integrating macaque watching, cherry picking, and hiking and sightseeing, and promote rural revitalization.
At Monkey Rock, the picture of harmonious coexistence between humans and animals is slowly unfolding. A canyon, two rows of mountains, different races, do not interfere with each other, looking at each other from afar. In the evening, after the monkeys have eaten, they are ready to return to their sleeping place. Wang Peichang pointed to a large stone gap in the middle of Monkey Rock and said, "When they get to that stone crevice, they live in that stone crevice at night." ”
Authors: Liu Guangxin, Liu Jian, He Shu, Que Meng, Yu Jin
Source: Wei Huize official