A group of 30 macaca assamensis, commonly known as Assam macaques, a endangered species under China's first-class protection, were bathing and playing in a river in the Tongbiguan Nature Reserve, southeast China's Yunnan Province.

The sight was caught in a camera by an amateur photographer.

The rare footage shows a group of Assam macaques comfortably sitting on a rock, enjoying sunshine, catching lice and playing with each other and, a little while later, several naughty monkeys playing with each other in the water.

"We have been watching closely for this group of Assam macaques for a few years. But it is the first time to capture their images in the valley, including some precious images swimming in the river," said Zhu Bianyong, a natural ecological photographer.

Rare footage of Assam macaques bathing in river caught in Yunnan

Zhu gave the images to the rangers of the reserve. After comparison and verification, they verified that there were 26 Assam macaques, including adult, semi-adult and young monkeys.

The Assam macaque is a species of macaques. It has a large and strong body, a high and protruding snout and nose, and a protruding brow arch. The creature mainly inhabits in the tropical evergreen forests and subtropical broad-leaved forests and coniferous forest at an altitude of 900 meters to 3,000 meters. The monkeys like ground activities and live in groups of 20 to 30.

In China, they mainly live in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"The Assam macaques are endangered species under China's first-class protection. They mainly inhabit in the south and southwest China. The footage is rare. This group of monkeys are healthy and their age structure is reasonable, which provides important data and images for the study of the monkeys. It was difficult to see traces of Assam macaques in the reserve in the past. In recent years, there have been more and more witness records. Many images of the monkeys' activities have been taken, indicating that our environment is getting better and better, and the protection is effective," said Zhang Yongsheng, chief of the Management and Protection Bureau of the Tongbiguan Nature Reserve.