Context: There are an estimated 7,396 golden langurs in India, the latest survey of the primate has revealed. The comprehensive population estimation of the endangered primate was carried out in two phases by the Primate Research Centre NE India (PRCNE), Assam Forest Department, Bodoland Territorial Council, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), and Conservation Himalayas.
Method Used: The block count method was applied for the first time to assess the abundance, spatial distribution, and densities of the golden langur populations.
- It is an Old-World monkey found in a small region of Western Assam, India and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
- The golden langur was first brought to the attention of the Western world by the naturalist Edward Pritchard Gee in the 1950s.
Conservation status
- IUCN STATUS-Endangered
- CITES – Appendix I
- Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
Subspecies
There are two subspecies of this species:
- Trachypithecus geei geei
- Trachypithecus geei bhutanensis
Physical Description
- The coat of the adult golden langur ranges from cream to golden, on its flanks and chest the hairs are darker and often rust colored while the coats of the juveniles and females are lighter, silvery white to light buff.
- Gee's golden langur exhibits sexual dimorphism: Males are larger and more robust than females.
Distribution
- Gee's golden langur is found in the region bounded by Brahmaputra River (South), Manas River (east), Sankosh River (west), in Assam, India, and on the north by the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
- Ripu Reserve Forest hosts the highest number within the northern sub-population, while the Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary in Kokrajhar district harbors the most significant number within the southern fragmented range.
- In India 93% of the population is found in forest reserves (Chirang, Manas and Ripu) and the western part of Manas National Park, and the remaining occur in several small, isolated fragments.
Behavior
- The langur is confined to high trees where its long tail serves as a balancer when it leaps across branches.
- Herbivores in diet.
- It generally lives in troops of about 8, with a ratio of several females to each adult male.
- The smallest golden langur troop was composed of four individuals, while the largest had 22, giving an average value of 8.2 individuals per troop.
- The adult gender ratio was 2.3 females to every male, although the majority of groups had only one adult male.