Tonkin Snub-Nosed Monkey

• Common Name: Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey
• Taxonomy Classification Year: 1912
• Monkey Size: 51 to 65 cm (20.08 to 25.59 in)
• Skin Color(s): Black and white
• Habitat: Rainforest
• Diet: Herbivorous
• Native Countries: Vietnam

The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey^[1], also known as the Dollman’s snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus), is a slender-bodied Old World arboreal monkey native to northern Vietnam.

• It lives at 200 – 1, 200 meters (700 – 3, 900 feet) in patchy forest areas on steep limestone reaches.
• Mother Nature has a sense of humor and style. Or maybe she had the day off, and in her absence, a makeup artist and a costume designer worked together to create this unusual-looking primate.
• As the name suggests, a small upturned nose sits in the center of the monkey’s face. Pale blue circles surround the sunken eyes.
• A flat, triangular, hairless, blue-black muzzle is dotted with exaggerated pink lips rivaling those of a circus clown.
• As if the lips weren’t pronounced enough, they are highlighted by blue-black skin, darker in males.
• Creamy white fur adorns the face and adorns ears. A touch of orange fur, lighter in males, adorns the throat and contrasts with the cream-colored fur on the monkey’s chest.
• The elbows, inner limbs, back of the thighs, and belly (bottom) of the monkey’s long tail are also cream-colored, with the tail ending in a creamy tuft.
• The back, outer limbs, hands, feet, and back (top) of the tail, accented by long strands of creamy white fur, are covered in black fur.

• The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey is monotypic; it has no subspecies.
• Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys are an arboreal and diurnal species, meaning they spend most of their time in trees and are active during the day.
• The groups are organized in groups of male species or with only one male and several females and their offspring.
• Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys build their nocturnal nests in the lower branches of a tree near a steep hill to protect themselves from cold winds.
• They move through the forest canopy by walking on all fours (quadruped), climbing, leaping from tree to tree, hanging from branches, or swinging from branch to branch using only their arms (a feat known as “brachiation“).