A female golden snub-nosed monkey kept in Seac Pai Van Park in Coloane passed away from illness a few days ago.
The monkey, which was nine years old, was one of the two snub-nosed monkeys that arrived in Macao in 2017. She gave birth to two infants, in 2020 and 2022.
The Municipal Affairs Bureau said that its animal management and care team realised that the female monkey “suffered from decreased activity levels, loss of appetite and a persistent decline in the amount of food consumed, but with normal stools” at the beginning of this month. Multiple attempts were made by the team to feed her gastrointestinal drugs but she didn’t respond to treatment.
The team also consulted experts in mainland China and Hong Kong for treatment advice, but to no avail. After an autopsy was conducted, “lesions in the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, uterus and other organs” were found.
The bureau added that samples were collected and sent to relevant institutions in mainland China for tests and pathological analysis.
The bureau also conducted examinations on the three other golden snub-nosed monkeys, but no abnormalities were found, The Macau Post Daily reported.
Golden snub-nosed monkey is one of the most endangered primate species found in China. Its distribution is restricted to temperate, mountainous forests at 1,000–4,100 metres above sea level across three isolated regions – around Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Hubei provinces – in central and southwestern China.
