China's golden snub-nosed monkeys are offering humans a lesson in resolving conflict and harmonious living, New Zealand researchers said Thursday.

The researchers from Massey University had observed "distinctively amicable social behavior" among the tree-dwelling primates, including giving each other soothing hugs to quell anger and tension.

The monkey's inclination to cuddle was not just a projection of human fantasy, but might have arisen as a survival mechanism to keep warm in minus-5 degrees centigrade winter temperatures, and had likely evolved into a different function for soothing and placating.

"They are very mellow and tolerant as a species," doctoral researcher Brigitte Kreigenhofer Kreigenhofer said in a statement.

"You can't help but fall in love with them."

The Massey conservation biologists are collaborating with counterparts at the Shaanxi Institute of Zoology to better understand the feeding and communication habits of the endangered species.

Chinese-born Dr Weihong Ji, who had studied the Sichuan, or golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) for more than 20 years, was supervising the research into the impact of habitation loss and eco-tourism on the species, as well as their nutrition and changes to their vocal patterns.

"We're working with local primatologists and local authorities to find a sustainable management plan that can serve the needs of these unique monkeys and the people who live in the region," Ji said in the statement.

Golden monkeys one of five species of snub-nosed monkey, all of which are endangered live in the forest-covered mountains of central China, where their populations have been under threat from deforestation.

They typically lived in social groups of 100 or more, with females choosing which males could join the family group, while males were polygamous and caring, doting fathers, unlike many other primates, Ji said.

The golden snub-nosed monkeys which appear in the classic Chinese legend of the Monkey King as a seeker of Buddhist wisdom

are mainly vegetarian in the wild, surviving on leaves, berries, bark, lichen as well as spiders and insects.

But the researchers also observed a population that had been herded into a restricted area so tourists could watch them up close, where they were also fed foods such as corn, apples, turnips, peanuts and peaches.

"Eco-tourism of this type is relatively new in China, and the impact of supplementary feeding on these monkeys is not yet known, " Ji said.

"The likely results include weight gain from altered nutritional balance which we've already observed and changes in social interactions."