Golden snub-nosed monkeys survive China's harsh mountain winters in large cohesive bands, with welfare challenges from habitat loss, harsh winters and research disturbance.
Winter nutritional stress causes body mass loss and immune suppression in snub-nosed monkeys during the harshest months. Habitat loss from logging removes high-quality food resources, compressing already marginal winter diets. Research and tourism disturbance at small habituated study sites causes chronic stress responses. China's extensive nature reserve network has provided increasing protection, and winter supplementary feeding by reserve managers reduces welfare impacts during critical periods.