Birth of Tibetan monkey (Macaca thibetana) in winter

On the basis of theory of natural selection, an animal concentrates its breeding time on the period of good condition. In general, seasonal breeding pattern of any primate species is normal. Rare Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) in Mt. Huangshan exhibit seasonal breeding pattern that apparently is maintained intrinsically. Its date of birth normally occur during the months of Jannary and May. However, in 2001, a case of birth in winter was observed. Although it is an incidental case, studying of these internal and external factors happen to it is of great significance. Based on the sequential birth data of Tibetan macaques and the sequential changing tendency of annual mean air temperature, precipitation, sunlight during 14 years from 1988 to 2001, using t-test ( r = 0. 60), the results show that there is significance correlation ( P < 0. 05) between the birth dates and annual mean air temperature, and no significance between the birth dates and annual mean precipitation and sunlight ( P > 0. 05) . The paper also analyze the others possible long-term impact of variation of altitude and latitude and translocation and subsequent provisioning and range restriction on the birth time of this species. Available integrate evidence, including rising of annual mean air temperature and translocation and provisioning and range restriction, concerning the variation and prolonging of birth time in this species is suggestive.