THE Shennongjia Nature Reserve in central China's Hubei Province is to launch a five-month-long population census of the endangered golden monkey next month.

Although the last census, in 2005, showed the numbers of this rare Chinese species had doubled to more than 1,200 since the 1980s, scientists are unsure what the population trend of the animal has been during the past five years.

"We cannot say the number has increased until the census is done, as food shortages and snowstorms in winter remain fatal to some golden monkeys," Yang Jingyuan, head of the reserve's researchinstitution, said.

"In 2008 alone, we found 13 dead monkeys after snowstorms," he said. However, he said the number of golden monkeys could have increased as researchers have been supplying food to the animals during the winter since 2005.

Researchers have been placing apples and oranges on the sharp ends of chopped tree branches along the monkeys' migratory routes, to make them believe that the fruits had grown on trees and, therefore, could be eaten, Yang said.

Better view

More than 30 people, including researchers and forest rangers, are expected to take part in the census. They would work in five teams to monitor different groups of golden monkeys, he said.

"Winter will be the best time for the census as all the tree leaves will have fallen by then, and will provide us a better view of the monkeys."

The Shennongjia golden monkeys, which live in deep forests at altitudes of between 1,680 to 3,000 meters, are on the verge of extinction.

They were first spotted in Shennongjia in the 1960s. The first census in the 1980s revealed that only 501 lived in the area. Its population had expanded to 1,280 by 2005 after better conservation of the local environment.

Located in the northwestern mountains in Hubei Province, the Shennongjia Forestry District, which administers the nature reserve, used to contribute more than 100,000 cubic meters of timber every year to support China's economy between the 1960s and the 1980s.

In the 1990s, however, the local government decided to stop looking at Shennongjia as a source of timber and turned it into a conservation area after deforestation seriously damaged the ecology and reduced the number of wild animals.

• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• monkey [´mʌŋki] n.猴子 v.乱弄；胡闹 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• institution [,insti´tju:ʃən] n.建立；制定；制度 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• monitor [´mɔnitə] n.班长 v.监控；检查 (初中英语单词)
• contribute [kən´tribju:t] v.贡献出；投稿；捐献 (初中英语单词)
• timber [´timbə] n.木材；木料；横梁 (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• seriously [´siəriəsli] ad.严肃；严重，重大 (初中英语单词)
• launch [lɔ:ntʃ] vt.发动 n.发射；汽艇 (高中英语单词)
• species [´spi:ʃi:z] n.(生物的)种，类 (高中英语单词)
• conservation [,kɔnsə´veiʃən] n.保存；节约；守恒 (高中英语单词)
• environment [in´vaiərənmənt] n.郊区；周围；条件 (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
• census [´sensəs] n.人口普查 (英语四级单词)
• northwestern [,nɔ:θ´westən] a.西北的；自西北的 (英语四级单词)