Common Name: Dusky Langur Scientific Name: Trachypithecus obscurus
LOWER RISK Dusky Langur Distribution: Indonesia
Habitat: Forest Height: Approx. 50cm Weight: 7kg Diet: Herbivorous Fruit, leaves, flowers.
The Dusky Langur is a distinctive monkey, which is recognisable by the bright white rings around it’s eyes. This explains its other common name the ‘spectacled langur’. Apart from the white rings around their eyes these monkeys are completely grey with lighter bellies. In these monkeys infants are born a different colour to the adults. All juveniles are born with bright ginger fur. This seems to create intrigue in the group and means the adults all cluster round the most vulnerable members. The monkeys are known as ‘old world’ monkeys, which means they come from either Africa or Asia. These monkeys come from Thailand and the Malay Peninsula where they inhabit forest, scrub, rubber plantations and even peoples gardens! They spend their time in the trees foraging for food. Their diet is mostly made up of fruit and leaves although they will also catch insects if they can. Langurs have specialised stomachs that mean they can eat ripe and unripe fruit along with high amounts of leaves. One of the dusky langurs favourite foods are ripe figs and they will sometimes spend 80% of their feeding time on eating them. These monkeys live in groups of up to 10 individuals. These groups are usually made up of a single dominant male and many females. The male will defend the group and his territory from predators and rival groups.