The Yunnan snub-nosed monkey.
There are estimated to be only 3,000
of these precious primates in existence.
This youngster lives a charmed life.
At one year old,
he's the centre of his mother's world.
His family are thriving, with five adults
looking after 10 youngsters.
They are high-altitude specialists,
living at up to 4,000 metres,
higher than any other primate species on Earth.
In winter,
eating becomes a major preoccupation.
Up here, food is scarce.
So these monkeys have developed a very unusual diet –
toxic moss and lichens.
It's all that's available,
so they have evolved with fermenting stomachs similar to a cow’s,
which eliminate the toxins and extract maximum nutrition.
The youngster has worked up an appetite,
but he's breaking the most important rule of troop life –
stay together.
At this altitude, the weather can change without warning.
His mother knows the danger.
Temperatures can rapidly plummet below zero.
Only huddling together stops the youngsters freezing to death.
Alone, he has little chance of surviving.
A break in the weather could give the youngster a chance to find his mother.
He spots the troop in the distance.
It was a lucky escape
and a lesson learnt.