Chinese nature conservation workers and researchers last Thursday discovered a new group of Nujiang golden monkeys in the Lushui County of China’s Yunnan Province.

The discovery was made a stone’s throw from the regions border with Kachin State, where the species has also been found.

The newly discovered well-preserved habitat is located on the east side of the main range of the Gaoligong Mountain at an altitude of 3,170 meters, where the monkeys were seen taking a noon nap, hugging and grooming each other, or climbing over 40-meter-high hemlock trees.

The monkeys are not frightened by humans, indicating that local residents do not disturb them but treat them well, the nature conservation workers said.

The Nujiang golden monkeys, primates discovered in 2010, are mainly living in the Gaoligong National Nature Reserve and northeast Burma. Research on these monkeys is still in the primary stages.

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Previous research had indicated that the monkeys inhabited only the west side of the mountain, according to field investigations. The discovery of the new group on the western side of the mountain has been welcomed.

The population of  Nujiang golden monkeys stands at around 260 to 330 according to the statistics by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, while a total of around 170 Nujiang golden monkeys have been found in the Gaoligong Mountain reserve.