Imagine that you are in the middle of the high forests of Myanmar on a rainy day, and all you can hear despite the rain is something or someone sneezing all around you. You would be pretty confused, right? Yeah, I would be too. Well, you’d be even more surprised to find that the culprit is the Myanmar snub nosed monkey. This monkey is a critically endangered species only discovered by science in 2010. This creature was formerly only known to the local hunters who killed the monkey for its rich and juicy meat. It was also hunted for the soft fur which was made into pouches and other garments. A funny and somewhat disturbing characteristic of this Monkey is its flat, upturned nose which is why it sneezes during the rain. Rain is their worst enemy, and the best friend to hunters, for the sneezes disclose their hidden position.
This funny looking species lives in the high mountains of Myanmar located in the state of Kachin near the border of China. Due to habitat loss there are only two hundred and sixty to three hundred and thirty of the Myanmar snub nosed monkeys left in the wild. Sadly, the future doesn’t look to hopeful for this sneezing and outlandish looking monkey, and thus the end of this amazing creature may be soon to come.
Oddly, there are other species of snub-nosed monkeys in the world. These include the Tonkin, the Golden, the Grey, and Black. These monkeys live in China, northern Myanmar, and Vietnam. All of these species together number around thirty thousand in the wild. Thankfully the locals have been told to stop setting iron traps and try to save the slowly dying population of the snub, nosed monkey, and so there is some cause for hope.
