Macaque monkeys threatened by a reservoir in Henan will be able to take hanging bridge tours from October.

The Dahe Daily reports that Jiyuan, a city in Henan province, is spending 5 million yuan ($813,000) on two hanging bridges over a reservoir on the Qinhe River for migrating macaques. Experts said that it was the first of its kind for domestic wildlife protection.

Jiyuan has over 3,000 macaques, of which about 5 herds, or 500 macaques, migrate between forests along the river banks.

The reservoir, spanning over 600 hectares on the Qinhe River, a major tributary of the Yellow River, will submerge the four bridges currently in use and make it impossible for macaques to travel between the banks.

According to Wang Xiangdong, an official with the Taihang Mountain National Nature Reserve, each of the two hanging bridges will allow 150 macaques to cross each time.

Wang said animal keepers at the Wulongkou scenic area will invite the macaques for guided tours first to help them get familiar with the passages.

Professor Lu Jiqi, a macaque expert at Zhengzhou University in Henan, said China built a green passage for Tibetan antelopes during construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (which started service in 2006), but that this is the first time for hanging bridges to be built for wildlife protection.

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