Welcome to the first Endangered Species Series post of the year!!! If this is the first time you're visiting my blog for this series, I'm SO excited you're here to learn more about our world's endangered species. In this series, I offer information about the species, an images of the species through my artwork, and information about what continues to threaten the species' existence. Each post is set up in the same way as this one and at the bottom of this post, you will find links to the species I've featured in the past - go read about your favorite one!! Thank you so much for being here and helping me spread the word about endangered species - join in the fight to save them!
Gray Langur (Semnopithecus hector)
Quick Facts:
Length: 40 to 80cm long
Tail length: 50 to 100cm long
Weight: 5.5 to 19kg
Diet: Leaves, fruit, other vegetation
Habitat: flexible - arid habitats to tropical evergreen rainforests
Range: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan
The pictured primate is a Gray Langur or Hanuman Langur and is the most widespread species of langur in the Indian Subcontinent. There are nearly two dozen other species langurs, all of which eat leaves. The Gray Langur is listed as Near Threatened, but human expansion and habitat loss continue to threaten those numbers and the species conservation status may soon change. Several other species of langur are listed as Endangered, including the Kashmir Gray Langur, Himalayan Gray Langur, and the Dark-Eyed Himalayan Langur.
These leaf monkeys have long hair with a distinctive cap or crest of long hair. Coloring varies by specie, but is typically gray, red, brown, or black. Infants are born with different coloring than the adults and adults usually have black faces. These primates live in bands of 20 to 30 individuals, but the groups can grow to as a large as 100 members. Females are very protective of their young, but allow other females to help care for them. Some troops, varying by species and region, may have several dominance-ranked males, while others will have only one male. In single male troops, the other males live in bachelor groups and will occasionally try to take power from the lead male.
THREATS
For the Gray Langur, threats include mining, charcoal collection, land distribution for landless people, timber collection, loss of habitat because of these human industries, and electrocution by power lines. For other species of langur, threats include agriculture, deforestation, logging, the building of roads through forest, and expanded development.
Past ESS blog post (linked):