Golden snub-nosed monkey

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 13, 2013424 views4 comments

In October we spent a couple of weeks in Southwest China. Our main goal was to see and photograph 2 species of the snub-nosed monkey, the golden and the black. These monkeys live on high altitudes and can withstand very low temperatures. The group of golden monkeys we photographed lives in a enclosed area and are fed on regular times. If the group becomes too big, they set some of them free in the wild.
The color of the fur is beautiful orange/gold and the little noses give them a very interesting appearance.

D300, 1/200, F5, tripod, 50% crop
Changqing Natural Reserve

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on January 13, 2013 at 9:28 AM

Hi Ellen,

I'm not totally sure of this, but I think this is the first time I've seen a photo of one of these. Very interesting looking animal. That little tuft of dark hair on top of the head drew my eye even more than the unique face did. Very cool...

I like the simplicity of this image. Composition works just fine for me. In a perfect world I wouldn't mind if the grasses in the foreground ridge were perhaps a little sharper (or should I say less out-of-focus), but I recognize that if you stopped down enough for this the background would have likely become more distracting. Like I said...just a "in a perfect world" comment and this trivial issue hardly distracts at all from the image...

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on January 14, 2013 at 1:31 PM

Hi Ellen, you sure thought of a pretty unique project IMO, I had never even heard of these species. Good to hear also that there are conservation projects in China, mostly we only here sad news from there. This is a really interesting looking species and you captured it here in a perfect pose to show itself. Composition wise this works for me. My only suggestion would be to do a little NR on the OOF BG here; you did not mention your ISO setting but I assume it was on the high side for your equipment and perhaps combined with the large crop that resulted in some visible noise, but it looks like this will be an easy fix. Thanks for sharing this species; did you manage to get the black one too?

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Don Westbrook on January 14, 2013 at 1:36 PM

Beautiful colors. I like the pose and composition too.

Registered on January 4, 2013, 11 Posts, 332 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on January 15, 2013 at 9:58 PM

Really neat subject! I like the rich colors and he offered a decent pose. I, too, am anxious to see more of this trip!

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments