45年前，他填错了高考志愿，从此命运的齿轮开始转动……

2023-08-03 03:08

1978年，23岁的龙勇诚填报高考志愿时，误以为“动物学”是“运动物理学”的简称，原本想研究宇宙的年轻人，就这样阴差阳错地进入了中山大学生物系动物学专业学习。

此时的他不会想到，命运的齿轮已经开始悄然转动——他会改变一个濒临灭绝物种的命运。

云南省迪庆藏族自治州白马雪山

大学毕业后，龙勇诚主动选择到中科院昆明动物研究所工作，初到云南，他学会的第一句藏语就是“慢慢走的话，毛驴也能驮着东西到拉萨”。

After graduating from Sun Yat-sen University with a major in zoology in 1992, Long Yongcheng became a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Southwest China’s Yunnan province. Here, he learned his first saying in Tibetan which means “Though slow, even a donkey can carry things to Lhasa.”

冥冥之中，这成为了他三十余年致力于研究、保护世界濒危物种“雪山精灵”滇金丝猴的真实写照。

The saying somewhat marked his over 30 years of dedication to researching and protecting the Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys, dubbed “elves of the snow mountain”, which are currently an endangered species.

世界濒危物种“雪山精灵”滇金丝猴

滇金丝猴（Yunnan snub-nosed monkey）是中国的特有种，仅分布在川滇藏三省区交界处海拔3000米以上的高寒山地，是世界上除人类以外栖息地海拔最高的灵长类动物，大部分时间都生活在树上。

由于特殊的生存环境，滇金丝猴本来就很“低调”，再加上捕猎、放牧、伐木等人类活动的影响，到上世纪七八十年代，人们已经将近一个世纪没记录到过活的滇金丝猴了，很多人都以为它们已经灭绝。

甚至在为了保护滇金丝猴而成立的云南白马雪山国家级自然保护区（Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve）里，工作人员对这种猴子也知之甚少。

1985年，龙勇诚在白马雪山垭口

1985年，为了做昆虫研究，龙勇诚第一次来到保护区，在和保护区工作人员的一次闲聊中，他惊讶地发现他们连滇金丝猴长什么样子都不知道，说滇金丝猴尾巴短短的，毛黄黄的。见过滇金丝猴标本的龙勇诚知道他们是误把某种猕猴当做了滇金丝猴，其实滇金丝猴成年个体的毛发是黑白色的，尾巴差不多和身体一样长。

He first visited the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in 1985 on a trip that led to a lifelong bond with the animals.

“Even the reserve’s staff members didn’t know what the monkeys looked like. They didn’t have a single clear photo of the primate. They once even mistook some macaque monkeys for the Yunnan monkey,” he recalled.
Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys have a distinctive appearance: black-and-white fur, pink pouting lips, a punky “mohawk” hairstyle and a tail that’s roughly as long as the body.

1989年龙勇诚（中）和猎手张志明（左一）

当时，全世界对滇金丝猴的了解也是一片空白，找不出一张滇金丝猴清晰的正脸照片。全世界还剩下多少滇金丝猴？他们分布在哪里？这些问题更是无人知晓。

“如果保护一个物种连它最基本的信息都不知道，那还怎么保护。” 作为科研人员，龙勇诚感到他有责任去探索、去回答这些还没有人回答过的问题。

“How can we protect a species without even knowing any basic information about it?” said Long, who was determined to find the monkeys.

1992年龙勇诚（右）和同伴考察滇金丝猴群途中

就这样，龙勇诚和保护区的两位工作人员踏上了漫漫“寻猴”路，十年间在澜沧江和金沙江之间狭窄的高山里“上下求索”。

From 1985 to 1994, Long and two assistants, who were the first members of staff at the reserve, left their footprints all over the narrow mountain ranges between the Jinsha and Lancang rivers as they searched for the elusive primates.

每一次上山对他们来说都是一次冒险，他们要深入到海拔3000-5000米的原始森林中，补给得雇马帮拖上去，多变的天气和崎岖的地形随时都能威胁到他们的生命安全。

“Every search was an adventurous journey. We had to venture deep into the primary forests at altitudes of 3,000 to 5,000 meters. Supplies were carried by horses to sustain our weekslong trips to the mountains. Sometimes, fickle weather and rugged terrain put our lives at risk,” Long recalled.

1992年，龙勇诚拍下世界上第一张野生滇金丝猴的照片

终于，在1992年6月4日，龙勇诚于滇藏交界处拍下了世界上第一张野生滇金丝猴的照片，14只猴子组成的猴群出现在悬崖上，离他大概只有100米远。

They caught fleeting glimpses of the primate in the trees or observed large groups from a distance, but it wasn’t until June 1992 that Long managed to take the first clear photo of the monkeys in the wild as they sat on high cliffs about 100 meters away.

1994年龙勇诚（左二）和同伴在白马雪山寻找滇金丝猴群途中

两年后，龙勇诚和他的团队最终将分布在云南和西藏的20个猴群、约1000到1500只滇金丝猴都找了出来，填补了知识的空白。

Later, his team found 20 groups of the monkeys — 1,000 to 1,500 in total — living in the primary forests, often known as “old growth forests”, in the border area between Yunnan and Tibet.

龙勇诚（左）和余建华在白马雪山国家级自然保护区合影

在寻找猴子的路上，龙勇诚有特殊的向导——当地最好的猎人。他们爬山厉害，对山上环境也最熟悉。一路上，他结识了三四十位这样的猎人，在龙勇诚的影响下，他们后来都成为了滇金丝猴的保护者。

Long’s expeditions were also often joined by special guides — hunters from local villages. Over the years, Long made the acquaintance of 30 to 40 hunters, and they are all now employed as forest protectors.

“猎人不一定就是坏人，‘靠山吃山’对他们来说很正常，只是他们没有意识到，自己的生活方式对大自然有多大的破坏”，龙勇诚说。

“The hunters were not absolute villains. It’s normal for them to live off the mountains. A lack of environmental and wildlife protection awareness meant that most of them were unaware that their way of life was destructive to nature,” Long said.

2023年3月，护林员余建华在响古箐村巡山

1997年，迪庆藏族自治州维西县塔城镇响古箐村的村民余建华成为了一名护林员，放下了猎枪和弓弩，加入了保护滇金丝猴的行列。

Yu Jianhua, a 70-year-old former hunter in Xiangguqing, has worked at the reserve for 26 years. His hunting career, which began in his teens, ended in 1997 after the local government persuaded him to use his skills and knowledge to protect the endangered monkeys.

余建华刚开始巡山时，猴子一看到他就跑得无影无踪，但在他日复一日的陪伴和守护下，猴群渐渐习惯了他的存在，愿意接受他带来的食物，他再靠近时，猴子也不躲了。

护猴员老余和滇金丝猴

2008年，滇金丝猴国家公园在响古箐村成立并对公众开放，成为世界上唯一可以近距离观察滇金丝猴的地方。如今，70多岁的余建华仍然活跃在园区里，每天巡山，把滇金丝猴的故事讲给每个参观者听。他说：“他们就像我的孩子一样，我会一直干下去，直到我再也走不动为止。”

“I see them as my own kids. I miss them when I leave the village, even if it’s only for a few days. I’ll continue my ranger work until the day I can no longer walk,” Yu said.

生活在云南白马雪山国家级自然保护区的滇金丝猴

随着保护意识和保护力度的增强，滇金丝猴的种群数量正在慢慢恢复，目前总共有4000到5000只左右，龙勇诚介绍说。

目前在云南和西藏共建立了5个滇金丝猴保护区，其中以云南西北部迪庆藏族自治州的白马雪山国家级自然保护区滇金丝猴的数量最多。根据2019年的调查，白马雪山保护区的滇金丝猴数量大概在2500到2700只左右。

Thanks to growing public awareness and concrete action, the number of endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys is rising to about 4,000 to 5,000, according to Long. The monkey’s population in the reserve reached 2,500 to 27,00 in 2019, according its survey in 2019.

滇金丝猴在照料今年刚出生的猴宝宝

“我们对滇金丝猴的研究还很有限，让这个濒危物种继续存活下去仍然是当务之急。只有保护好它，保护好它的家园，后人才可以不断地去研究，”龙勇诚说。“滇金丝猴的保护已经走上正轨，我所有的梦想都已开花。”

“The conservation of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey is on the right track and my dream of saving the species has been realized,” said Long.

游客在香格里拉滇金丝猴国家公园观猴

“我现在最喜欢听咔咔咔的拍照声，因为这些照片会传递到全世界，让更多的人成为滇金丝猴的粉丝，”今年68岁已经退休的龙勇诚，仍然关心、爱护着他眼中最美的生物。

“I like the shutter sounds made by visitors’ cameras and phones because that means their images and videos will be spread online and all over the world, making more people fans of this unique species,” said Long, now a 68-year-old retiree and honorary chairman of the Chinese Primatological Society.

龙勇诚在考察滇金丝猴途中

“更多的关注度会带来更多的保护，希望有一天，黑白毛的滇金丝猴能够像同样黑白的大熊猫一样受欢迎。”

“More attention brings better protection. Now, as a retiree, I just hope that one day this black-and-white monkey will be as popular as the black-and-white giant panda,” Long said.