Natural disasters such as snow storms have far-reaching effects on variations in the habitat structure and ecological aspects of non-human primates. Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) inhabit high-altitude forest and endure harsh winters. The effect of heavy snow-storms (January 19 to February 6, 2008) on two large groups of R. bieti (Gehuaqing group and Xiangguqing group) inhabiting Samage Forest in the Baimaxueshan Nature Reserve were assessed. Data on habitat damage were collected between March and May 2008 via field line sampling. The snow storms destroyed 237 big trees in the Samage Forest. The destroyed trees were mostly located along the mountain ridge and valley including Abies georgei, Tsuga dumosa, Pinus yunnanensis and Cyclobalanopsis oxyodon. These trees were important for R. bieti as they provide a dietary source of lichen that is a critical winter fallback food for this primate species, and consequently food availability for R. bieti was reduced. Our results also showed that two juveniles in the Gehuaqing group and three juveniles in the Xiangguqing group were found deceased following the storms. The fact indicates that R. bieti is well adapted to high altitude and strongly seasonal habitat might explain its resilience to heavy snow storms. 1. Introduction Natural disasters have far-reaching impacts on vegetative biomass, forest structure, food supply, wild animal population demography, and activity in forest ecosystems [1, 2]. For example, significant losses of tree and shrub species diversity and richness occurred in Wolong National Nature Reserve following the 8.0 magnitude earthquake in 2008 [3]. Earthquakes have also instigated abnormal behaviors and increased activity in nonhuman primates [4]. Fujimoto and Hanamura [5] reported that wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) displayed scream vocalizations, climbed trees, and stopped grooming and feeding during a high intensity earthquake. Disaster events can also seriously threaten primate populations and social group structure due to their habitat destruction [6, 7]. For instance, 26% of chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) died or disappeared after almost 150 days of drought in the Kuiseb River canyon, Namibia [8]. Dittus [9] also reported that group size of toque macaques (Macaca sinica) declined by 15% because of severe drought. Pavelka et al. [6] found that a population of black howlers (Alouatta pigra) decreased by 88% during the three and a half years after Hurricane Iris hit southern Belize. One group of golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana
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