The discovery of the "Monkey King" in the mountains of Shaanxi attracted people to explore the jungle to see what kind of life they lived.

There is a place called Chaoyanggou in Huang Guan Town, ningshan county, Ankang City, Shaanxi Province. Because a group of "Monkey King" is on fire, many photographers, outdoor explorers and ordinary tourists flock here to shoot and watch. Everyone is eager to see the true face of the legendary "Monkey King" and of course hope to bring good luck to themselves.

Many people who have seen Journey to the West know that the Monkey King in the play is a natural stone-raised Liu Er macaque. There are 10 subspecies of real macaques, which are distributed in southern provinces, among which Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou are more distributed, followed by Fujian, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei and Qinghai. It can be seen that macaques are actually very common species in the monkey family. It is neither endangered nor fragile, and it is a low-risk species. It has been listed as a national second-class protected animal in the List of National Key Protected Wild Animals in China.

In this way, it is far-fetched to call the macaque the monkey king. No wonder everyone has watched the Journey to the West for decades, but no one likes macaques as much as giant pandas. This is also reasonable. Then, if you have to find one of the monkeys to be crowned "Monkey King", which monkey will change its name to the real place? You know, there are many kinds of monkeys, such as macaques, lazy monkeys, spider monkeys, colobus monkeys, langurs, red-faced monkeys, baboons, mandrills, golden monkeys, langurs and so on, and among these monkeys, only golden monkeys can stand out.

There are five kinds of golden monkeys, including Burma golden monkey (Nujiang golden monkey), Sichuan golden monkey, Yunnan golden monkey, Guizhou golden monkey and Vietnam golden monkey. Except Burmese golden monkey and Vietnamese golden monkey, all the other golden monkeys are unique and rare species in China, and all of them are listed in the Red List of Endangered Species. The word "endangered" alone means that the value of golden monkey is already very rare. Among these five golden monkeys, Sichuan golden monkey is unique. Why do you say that? Because Sichuan golden monkey is the most gorgeous one in the golden monkey family.

Sichuan golden monkey is a medium-sized monkey. Compared with other monkeys, Sichuan golden monkey is the most beautiful and spiritual monkey. The hair on their faces, limbs and backs is beautiful golden yellow, and some hair colors gradually change from light yellow to golden yellow or even rose. In the sun, dazzling, looking forward to brightness. At present, it is only distributed in Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi and Hubei provinces in China. It is a typical forest arboreal animal, inhabiting the virgin forest at an altitude of 1500 ~ 3300m all the year round. More coincidentally, the habitats of Sichuan golden monkey and giant panda basically overlap. Therefore, golden monkeys have become the flagship species to measure the health and integrity of forests.

At this point, it is not difficult to see that the golden monkey is not only worthy of the title of "Monkey King", but also extremely rare, not as common as macaques. Golden monkey, as a national first-class protected animal, has its own unique habitat. Chaoyanggou, Huang Guan Town, ningshan county mentioned above is one of Sichuan Golden Monkey Protected Areas. Chaoyanggou is located in ningshan county, at the southern foot of Qinling Mountains. It is only 90km away from Xi by taking Xihan Expressway, with an average elevation of about1.200m and a forest coverage rate of 92%. The trees are shaded, the ancient trees are towering, the cool wind is blowing gently, and the streams are gurgling. It belongs to a typical alpine mountain area and is called "Nanshan Old Forest".

Walking into Chaoyanggou is like walking into a cool paradise. Castle Peak stretches along the road, with blue sky and white clouds, such as white gauze, winding around the graceful mountainside. "Giant panda in plants" yew can be seen everywhere. Follow the guide sign of the Golden Monkey Science Base to the end of the forest and reach the observation point of the Golden Monkey in Qinling Mountains. Standing here, just looking at the surrounding scenery, your eyes will be shocked, as if every grass and tree in the forest has its own aura. Especially in the fog of the sea of clouds, the golden monkey suddenly appears, and there will be a sense of trance in which the "Monkey King" sends messengers to guide the way.

What's even more surprising is that the golden monkey here is gentle, even a little timid and shy, without the arrogance and hegemony of the Monkey King, the monkey king. After hearing this, the passers-by in the same trade immediately sneered: "After all, I have been through eighty-one difficulties with Tang Priest and have never seen the world. Plus, after I came back from the Western Heaven, I was made an anti-Buddha. As a smart and strong man, the golden monkey knows what introversion is. " As soon as the voice fell, everyone around him burst out laughing.

According to local people, Chaoyanggou, the habitat of golden monkey, was troubled by bandits in history. Up to now, there are still many cottages that fought bandits in those days, including Huanglong Village, Taiping Village, Qinglong Village, Juan Village and Hei Hu Village. Taiping Village and Qinglong Village are well preserved. After hearing what the other person said, I began to extrapolate again. "Be king, become an enemy" is the same as the Monkey King's challenge to heaven, and the arrogance of erecting a "the Monkey King" is very consistent.

But in fact, these golden monkeys living in Chaoyanggou really live a leisurely and quiet life. They thrive here, live next to each other and become friends with each other. Not only that, in winter, the mountains are closed by heavy snow, and food is in short supply, so local people will feed in a fixed place. Every time food is put in, almost all golden monkeys will flock to this area on time to "go to dinner" and have a full meal. The scene is spectacular.

Not only that, these lovely golden monkeys are also happy to interact with people and take photos as a souvenir, and they also like to have lunch or dinner with people, which makes Chaoyanggou the only place in Qinling where people can enjoy wild golden monkeys from a distance.

At present, there are more than 80 golden monkeys living in Chaoyanggou. Generally, the life span of golden monkey is about 30 years, while the reign time of monkey king is about 5 to 10 years. The Monkey King ascended the throne from August to September every year. At this time, adult male monkeys will constantly challenge the Monkey King. If the male monkey challenges successfully, it will replace the "throne" of the old monkey king. Therefore, the Monkey King is usually larger in size and brighter in color. Whenever he acts, the Monkey King will lead by example and walk in front of the monkey. During the break, the Monkey King will stay alone in the tree, and other monkeys, big and small, are afraid to approach and disturb easily. Therefore, in addition to having absolute sovereignty over monkeys, the Monkey King will also take the lead in commanding monkeys to "fight" when other monkeys violate the jurisdiction or encounter danger.

However, the shocking "battle" scene of the golden monkey is extremely difficult to meet. Even the old people living in Chaoyanggou have never seen it with their own eyes. Golden monkeys usually stay in the mountains, and the intersection with human life is only occasional rather than frequent. That's why a lot of people flock to it, but leave in anger. After all, the golden monkey is the "monkey king", and we can watch it if we want.

But there are always some people who stick to it and never see it once. If you come again, you will always see it. But it doesn't matter whether we see it or not. It is important that we should have the consciousness of loving animals and nature. The ecological environment of Chaoyanggou is particularly rare. Monkey watchers followed. The garbage and loud noise discarded by people have brought serious inconvenience and interference to the life of golden monkeys. What's more, anyone with food in the bag will generously hand it to the "golden monkey" and forget that it is a monkey, not a person.

So on the way to the Golden Monkey Scenic Area, someone carved a sentence on the trunk: "If you don't come, the monkeys may live better because they are real practitioners!"