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Three Decades of Records Showed Large Population Swings in Wulongkou Taihangshan Macaques

Rhesus macaque in Wulingyuan National Park, Hunan, China
Conservation · Population & status

Three decades of records from Wulongkou in Henan, China, show that a free-ranging population of Taihangshan rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta tcheliensis) went through substantial demographic swings despite regular food provisioning for tourism.

The Wulongkou area has been developed for wildlife tourism centred on the macaques since the early 1980s. The researchers reconstructed changes in group size, births, newborn mortality and male movement from long-term population records extending into 2024.

Births and newborn mortality changed in different directions

Mean group size fluctuated markedly but tended to move back toward its historical average. Natality was relatively stable from 2012 to 2022 and then increased. Newborn mortality moved in the opposite direction over part of the same period: it increased from 2012 to 2019 and then declined from 2020 onward.

These patterns show that population change was not driven by a single demographic measure. Group size, births and newborn survival changed on different timelines, so the long-term picture is more complex than a simple rise or decline.

Many males stayed local

The records also showed that many males either remained in their natal group or moved only to neighbouring groups within Wulongkou. The study does not itself provide a population-genetic estimate of how much gene flow this produces. The authors therefore call for genetic analyses to assess the future viability of the population more directly.

Food provisioning did not prevent population swings

Macaques in Wulongkou have been provisioned since tourism developed there, yet the population still experienced strong fluctuations and periods of decline. The authors therefore suggest that environmental constraints other than food availability may be important.

The study does not identify one specific environmental cause. Its main contribution is the long demographic record: even in a population accustomed to tourists and regular food provisioning, births, newborn survival, group size and male movement changed substantially over time.

Sources and image credit

  1. Hu, L., Wang, Y., Xu, H., Tian, J., & Lu, J. (2026). Population demographic history of Taihangshan macaques (Macaca mulatta tcheliensis) in the Wulongkou Area, Jiyuan, China. American Journal of Primatology, 88(7), e70191. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.70191Primary research article first published online 8 July 2026. The study reconstructed demographic history in Wulongkou over roughly three decades. The population showed marked fluctuations; mean group size tended toward its historical average, natality was relatively stable for about a decade before increasing around 2022, newborn mortality increased from 2012 to 2019 and decreased from 2020, and many males remained in their natal group or dispersed only to neighbouring groups.
  2. Correction to ‘Population Demographic History of Taihangshan Macaques (Macaca mulatta tcheliensis) in the Wulongkou Area, Jiyuan, China’. (2026). American Journal of Primatology, 88(7), e70195. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.70195Journal correction published 27 July 2026. It corrects Figure 1 by restoring a missing red dot marking where adult male DX had once been active; it does not change the demographic results summarized in this news article.

Image: Majavar / Wikimedia Commons — live rhesus macaque in Wulingyuan National Park, Hunan, China; representative species image, not a Wulongkou study animal and not identified as the Taihangshan subspecies · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

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