Nanwan Monkey Island () is a state-protected

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

for

macaque The macaques () constitute a genus (''Macaca'') of gregarious Old World monkeys of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. The 23 species of macaques inhabit ranges throughout Asia, North Africa, and (in one instance) Gibraltar. Macaques are principall ...

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incom ...

Lingshui county Língshuǐ Li Autonomous County is an autonomous county in Hainan, China. It is one of the six autonomous counties of Hainan with a postal code of 572400, and in 1999 a population of 318,691, largely made up of the Li people. Notably the beautifu ...

on the south coast of

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

, the southernmost province of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. While termed an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

, the reserve is actually on the Nanwan peninsula bordering the Xincun harbour on the east and south. It is accessible by China's longest over-water cable car from Xincun, spanning . Nanwan Monkey Island 02

Since the nature reserve was established in 1965, the reserve has become a popular tourist destination. It is now home to approximately 2,000 monkeys. The reserve, totalling 1,000

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...

, is China's largest area for raising and training monkeys. It is also the only island nature reserve that protects the endangered macaques species in the world.

References

External links

{{coord, 18.39, N, 109.98, E , format=dms , type:landmark_region:CN-46 , display=title Geography of Hainan Tourist attractions in Hainan 1965 establishments in China Monkey parks