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October 14, 2017

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‘Monkey mom’ at home with her children

A famous Western saying goes, “Love me, love my dog.” As for Pan Huifen, it has to be “Love me, love my monkeys.”

Married to a forester based on Longhu (Dragon and Tiger) Mountain in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Pan, a Zhuang ethnic living in the village nearby, goes to the mountain once a week to visit her husband and to feed the monkeys her partner has been observing since 1983.

Smart as they are, the monkeys quickly identify her as their dear hostess and play with her whenever she comes. And Pan, 61, returns the affection as if they were her own children.

She’s amiably called the “monkey mom.”

In 1992, Pan became a cleaner when the Longhu Mountain Nature Reserve was established. And when visitors arrived, she would voluntarily be the guide and explain the species of the wild monkeys and where to spot them.

In 2005, when the nature reserve opened its doors to tourists, Pan became the only senior guide of the Longhu Mountain Tourism Scenic Area and got very popular with visitors.

As the ecological system gets better thanks to the protection in the past few years, there are now different flocks of monkeys living in the mountain which are all acquainted with Pan.

They gather around her wherever she sits for a rest during the day’s work.

“Anyone who has seen Pan feeding and playing with the monkeys will be impressed,” said Huang Haiying, director of the Longhu Mountain Tourism Scenic Area. “She shows the very ideal of living in harmony with nature. And that gives the meaning of our work in protecting natural habitats.”




 

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