Behavioural Displays of the Guizhou Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus brelichi)

The entire population of Guizhou (or grey) snub-nosed monkeys ( Rhinopithecus brelichi; Thomas, 1930), has an estimated size of 800 individuals and occurs only in a restricted area of 400 km 2 in the sub-tropical semi-deciduous broadleaf forests of Wuling mountains in the Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve (Guizhou province, China). We aimed to construct an ethogram of Rhinopithecus brelichi and to increase knowledge about the behaviour of snub-nosed monkeys in general, for future quantitative comparison. We provide an ethogram for grey snub-nosed monkeys based on data collected from nine captive individuals (at Fanjingshan National Nature Preserve Rescue Centre). The observations from captive individuals were recorded during a period of seven months, from June to December 2009. Their number and housing conditions changed several times during the study period. Ninety behaviours were recorded. They were grouped in three main categories: individual behaviours (then divided into six sub-categories: ingestion, locomotion, postures, maintenance, investigation and individual play), social behaviours (subdivided into sexual, affinitive, social play, submissive and aggressive/agonistic behaviour) and infant care. The detailed description of each behavioural display provides a standard for systematic and quantitative comparative studies of the genus Rhinopithecus . We then compared our data with behavioural data of the other two Chinese endemic congeneric species: Rhinopithecus bieti and R. roxellana . We observed that some behaviours involving physical contact, e.g. Holding Lumbar, Kissing Back and Rocking, were not shown by R. brelichi. A better understanding of R. brelichi behaviour can help improve the breeding success of captive individuals and may provide useful insights for future field research.