Pheasants:

Sichuan’s mountains are home to many species of pheasant, each confined to separate levels of the mountain and many choosing mates with a spectacular courtship display. Sichuan is noted as being the ancient dispersal point of the pheasants, the family evolving in this region and spreading out over much of the Old World. Above the timberline, in the alpine meadows and ranging up as far as the permanent snows, the blood pheasant and the rare, spectacular beautiful Chinese monal reign supreme. Here, within the conifer belt, lives Temminck’s tragopan, and at increasingly lower altitudes, the orange-collared koklass, the white-eared pheasant and the golden pheasant.

Golden Monkey:

In the tree canopy that shelters the giant panda lives one of the most strikingly attractive inhabitants of the conifer forests –the golden monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellanae. Their blue faces and snub-noses framed by a thick golden mane make them stand out among the crowd. Golden monkeys eat buds, fruit, tree bark and lichens. Their thick coat is a necessary adaptation to the winter cold of the mountains where the deep blanket of snow remains from October to April. At one time, only mandarins were allowed to use capes made from this species’ fur. Golden monkeys range south into Guizhou and tropical Yunnan.

Tibetan macaque:

The Tibetan macaque, Macaca thibetana, is another primate found throughout the high peaks of western China. They extend down through the conifer forest to the next level, the mixed evergreen forest. The animals move through the mountains in troops of up to 100 in search of young leaves, fruit and, in spring, bird’s eggs. Each troop is headed by a big alpha male, who can weigh a massive 17kg. The alpha male reigns supreme over his females and the rest of the troop until he is ousted by a stronger, younger competitor. These macaques have a reputation for ferocity. Even on Mount Emei Shan, Sichuan’s well-known buddhist mountain, where the macaque troops are at their most tame, the big alpha male are startlingly aggressive towards visitors. On a number of occasions members of a troops have approached visitors, expecting to be fed. If not immediately offered a titbit, a monkey might well rush up and snatch a bag, or worse, swipe at someone’s pockets. On one occasion a young woman was accosted by a big male demanding food while she was taking photos in front of Hungchongping temple. The male suddenly lunged for the woman’s handbag and drove his canines into her hand. Seconds later, the culprit was seen up a tree ripping the handbag apart and scattering the inedible contents about the forest. Such alpha males get the pick of offerings. Even when they have filled their bellies to bursting they still continue to take advantage of their status and pack their cheek pouched (the monkey equivalent of a doggy-bag) with food before yielding place to the troop’s number two in the hierarchy.

Others:

Beneath the shadowed canopy of the bamboo belt browse herds of takin. A type of goat-antelope, the takin has a heavily built body, long backward-sweeping horns and a prominent, humped snout that the nineteenth-century explorer, H S Wallace, described as a ‘Roman nose’. Its yellow coat, the legendary golden fleece of Jason and the Argonauts, is well oiled to protect it from the wet, foggy atmosphere. The endangered white-lipped deer also lives in the bamboo zone, sharing its leafy habitat woth sambar, two species of muntjak, and musk deer which, despite domestication for the perfume trade, are still trapped in the wild for their glands. Besides the two panda species (giant panda and the lesser panda), the only other animal in the forest that depends exclusively on bamboo is the bamboo rat. The king-sized rodent leads a subterranean life and has an extensive network of tunnels that may cover an area the size of a suburban garden (200 square meter).

With such a wealth of food at hand, the carnivores are well represented: civets, martens, weasels, three species of badger, lynx, clouded leopard and small cats such as the golden cat. The golden cat comes in so many different colours and patterns, from uniform golden-brown to a black-spotted version, that it is easily mistaken for several different species. It can climb well but hunts mainly on the forest floor, rodents, such as the bamboo rat, being its usual prey, but it will sometimes partake of animals as large as muntjaks and hog deer. Leopards are now rare in panda country, but the few that survive pose a real threat to giant panda cubs and sub-adults, and to lesser pandas of all ages.

Running through all the vegetation zones are the streams and waterfalls that support another wholly separate layer of life. In this watery domain the soothing white noise of stream and cataract harmonizes with the calls of ‘piano’ frogs, whose music has been celebrated in poetry and song in centuries past. Breeding adults excavate burrows by the stream bank in which to lay their eggs, while other species of frog opt for fastening their eggs under waterfalls with the amphibian equivalent of superglue. The tadpole of Megophrys spp. has an extendable mouth that is almost as large as its entire body. The mouth is used as a float as well as a funnel for sucking in plankton and other food.