Chinese nature reserve invests 5 million yuan building bridges for migrating macaques

A nature reserve in Central China's Henan Province is to spend 5 million yuan (£485,000, $815,000) on two cable bridges over a reservoir to allow macaque monkeys to migrate.

Jiyuan city is building the bridges over a reservoir on the Qinhe River especially for the migrating macaques. Experts said that it was the first of its kind for domestic wildlife protection. More than 3,000 macaques live in Jiyuan Macaque National Natural Reserve and at least 500 of them move between forests on both sides of the Qinhe River, a tributary of the Yellow River.



The Hekou Reservoir, key to flood control on the Qinhe and the lower reaches of the Yellow River, has cut off their route. The reservoir, spanning over 600 hectares on the Qinhe River, will submerge the four bridges currently in use and make it impossible for macaques to travel between the banks.

According to Wang Xiangdong, an official with the Taihang Mountain National Nature Reserve, each of the two hanging bridges, which are expected to open in October, will be more than 250 metres long and 10 metres above the water, allowing 150 macaques to cross at a time. Wang said animal keepers at the Wulongkou scenic area will invite the macaques for guided tours first to help them get familiar with the passages .