Monkeys on diet at China's southwestern mountain resort

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 ◆ Monkeys on diet at China's southwestern mountain resort

Losing weight is not only fashionable among a growing number of affluent Chinese these days, but is proving necessary for obese monkeys at Mt. Emei,a scenic resort in southwest China's Sichuan province.

Food rationing, once common for residents in China during the planned economy era, has been introduced to reduce the monkeys' weight in the 60-hectare Emei Monkey Reserve, according to the reserve management office.

As part of a special dieting regime to limit the quantity and variety of the animals' food, the staff now provide them with 600 bags of monkey food daily, mostly coarse grains, office deputy Zhang Yuan said recently.

Tourists are also told to buy monkey food at designated sites and are not allowed to give them other food without permission.

Zhang noted that the monkeys would still get fruit like bananas and apples regularly.

The monkeys had become too picky about their ordinary food since enjoying highly-nutritious snacks from tourists, and had grown partial to a particular kind of food, he added.

With more body fat and less exercise, the monkeys had become prone to obesity and hypertension.

"Look, that one weighs about 60 kg," said Zhang, pointing to a slow moving, one-meter-tall animal.

Mt. Emei is on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage list.