Golden snub-nosed monkeys are primarly tree-dwelling primates and active during the daytime. They spend almost the entirety of their time in the trees that populate their dense forests. Here, they eat, groom, play, mate, and spend their nights. At night, they tend to prefer sleeping on taller trees, and they also seem to choose flatter areas facing south, probably as a way to increase their survival chances in case of predators and to warm up, respectively. They move from tree to tree by leaping, swinging from one branch to another, and walking on all fours. In some regions (for example, in the Shaanxi region), the golden snub-nosed monkey spends more time on the ground during the winter. Here, males are semi-terrestrial, meaning that they spend almost as much time on the ground as they do in the tree canopy. Overall, it seems that their preference is influenced by ecological factors, for example, the presence of ground-dwelling predators or food ailability.
Golden snub-nosed monkeys spend a lot of their days resting and feeding, although their daily activities are affected by seasonal changes. They are particularly active during summer and autumn, when ailable food is abundant, while they become less active in winter, given the previously mentioned lack of food. In winter, they spend more time foraging, probably because they rely on less calorie-dense, lower-quality food, which they must eat in greater amounts. Because their meals take longer, they spend less time moving around so they can se up energy and cope better with cold temperatures. In their natural habitats, they may be a target for different types of predators. Red dogs (Cuon alpinus), wolves (Canis lupus), Asiatic golden cats (Catopuma temmincki), leopards (Panthera pardus), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), and goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) are natural predators of the golden snub-nosed monkey. To oid bird predation, golden snub-nosed monkeys do not spend much time on the higher parts of the trees, seeking refuge between the lower branches. As it happens, trees offer protection from many ground-dwelling predators, such as wolves.
Their intricate social network also protects them from attacks, for example, from leopards. Males will try to protect their troops with aggressive displays.