monkeys of asia - monkey matters
TRANSCRIPT
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Copyright 2002By Camille Dorian
Monkeys of Asia:The Endangered Douc Langur
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The red-shanked douc langur (pronounced dukeLANG-grrr) is an endangered monkey that comesfrom the forests of Vietnam, Laos and Cambo-dia.
The mother douc langur is named Moki. Like theother douc langurs, she has dark, almond shapedeyes. Her white face has shades of tan on thenose, cheeks, brow and ears.
Sparse white whiskers form a ruff around thecheeks and chin on adult douc langur�s face. Themale douc langur does not have the same pale
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5blue as Moki does on her chin.
Young douc langurs are born with dark faces.Their muzzles lighten and their white whiskersgrow longer as they get older. The infant spendsa lot of time clinging to the mother�s stomach,where he is well camouflaged. His mother helpsprotect him from predators like large overheadbirds.
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7Moki is holdingher offspring, JD.(JD stands forJunior Douc.) Heis her first bornmale. Douc lan-gur monkeyshave one infantat a time (twinsare rare).
Monkeys usehugging andbody contact tohelp their off-spring feel safeand secure.
JD is 9 monthsold and is part ofa zoo breedingprogram for en-dangered mon-keys. He lives with his mother Moki, his fatherJack (photo left) and two aunts. Infants areweaned at 12 to 18 months.
It is natural for adult douc langurs to have bigbellies, but Jack is sometimes mistaken for a preg-
8nant female because of it.
Douc langurs are leaf eating monkeys. All leaf-eating monkeys have specially adapted stom-achs. The stomach of a langur has more thanone compartment. The stomach contains spe-cial colonies of bacteria that help the monkeysto digest the fibrous leaves, petioles (slenderstems), flowers, unripe fruit and seeds that theyeat. Young, tender leaves are a favorite food.
JD�s aunt Rose is eating hibiscus leaves. JD learnsto eat the leaves of the ficus tree from watchingthe older langurs.
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When Mokieats, JD begsto get hisshare.
When mon-keys live inthe zoo, theyalso eat ahigh fiberfood called
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leaf eater monkey biscuits. Raw broccoli and rawyams are added to their diet. The douc langurdoes not eat animal prey like some monkeys do.
Jack drops the hard biscuits in a water bowl tosoak before he eats them.
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Most monkeys have hands that are shaped simi-lar to human hands (four fingers and an oppos-ing thumb). Monkeys have fine fur on their fin-gers and backs of the hands, but the palm andgripping side of the fingers are bare like the hu-man hand. Most leaf-eaters have short thumbsand some leaf eaters have no thumbs at all.
Doucs sometimes eat by putting their mouthsright on the leaves and sometimes they use theirhands to strip the leaves off first.
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The leaf eating monkey�s foot looks similar to ahand. The big toe is like a thumb, so the mon-keys can grip leaves and branches with their feetas well as their hands.
Most of the douc langur�s fur is black or gray tickedwith white. But from the knee to the ankle the furis rust colored. Adult douc�s also have a rust col-
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ored �necklace� on thechest.
Above the tail the adult douclangur is marked by a whiterectangle. The thighs areblack, which makes thewhite patch stand out evenmore. Design patterns like
the white throat, white tail and white rectangleprobably help douc langurs to identify each otherat a distance in the shadowy overgrown jungles.Fur color and pattern is a kind of communica-
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tion.
When the douc langur is upset, he uses a differ-ent kind of language--body language--to com-municate. His head juts forward from the shoul-ders and his ears move back. His eyes glare athis opponent. This is called a threat stare.
It is a warning to an enemy or an outsider. It isthe douc�s way of saying, �Back off. Stay out ofmy space, or else.�
15Younger doucs use expressions of their own tocommunicate. Studies show their large eyes helpin getting care from adults.
The douc youngster will grimace by wrinkling uphis face and opening his mouth to an adult. Thisis a submissive gesture. He usually makes a small
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Other langurs.....There are many species ofleaf eating monkeys. Some live in Africa and somein Asia. A group of Asian langurs is known as �theodd-nosed monkeys�.
Some of the odd-nosed monkeys are �snub-nosed�. Three of these live in China in deciduousforests that are snow covered for a few monthsof the year.
The other odd-nosed monkey is the proboscismonkey of Borneo. It has a long tubular noseand the males nose is much bigger than the fe-males. All of the odd-nosed monkeys are endan-gered.
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Where douc langurs live.....Red-shankeddoucs live in the high canopy from 980 feet to6560 feet up (the equivalent of a 120 to 820 storybuilding). They live in moist tropical rain forestbut have also adapted to dry (monsoon) forest.
The sounds they make.....Red-shankeddoucs are quiet monkeys, making few sounds.They make a low pitched growl as a threat and ashort, harsh squeal of distress.
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sound at the same time. JD makes this grimacewhen his mother is trying to wean him. She wantsto discourage him from nursing. This is naturalfor mother monkeys whose offspring are grow-ing up. If JD grimaces, his mother will nurse himfor a short time.
Douc langurs make this submissive grimace inresponse to the threat stare from another douc.
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Langurs live in social groups with one dominantadult male and several females. In most langurgroups, the females are responsible for main-taining the groups territory.
JD climbs in the branches. Young langurs havethe most energy for play. He sometimes runs and
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slides on his belly. He plays leap frog over theback of one of his aunts. He swings with his armsand leaps and will swing from the tail of an adult.
JD�s aunt Tulip is one of the adult females. Sherelaxes by sunning herself.
Aunts sometimes help care for infants in the
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A day in the life of a douc langur.....Allmonkeys have a daily rhythm or schedule that theykeep when living in the wild. Some langurs travelas much as five miles a day in search of the foodsthat are right for them.
Early in the morning, the douc langur monkeys rise.The adults groom in and around their sleeping trees,while young ones play. Foraging starts in the morn-ing. Langurs eat their foods as they find them. Dif-ferent foods are available during different seasons.
With many monkeys, a group rest time comes inthe afternoon. Dinner foraging is followed by set-tling in chosen sleeping trees. The langurs groomsome more, then sit with family members to fallasleep.
Daily rhythms change with the weather. If it is veryhot, monkeys seek shade and rest. Rain also inter-rupts foraging.
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group. This baby-sitting may help the mother bygiving her a rest from an active youngster likeJD. It gives the younger females in the grouppractice with their infant care skills as well.
The adult male langur is dominant (head of thegroup). Males are always bigger than the female.Male doucs can mate and have offspring at theage of five. Females are mate at the age of fouryears.
Male langurs who live in the wild often lose theirposition as head of the family. This is the natural
23way of langurs who live in the wild. A younger,stronger male langur wants to come into a groupand take the older male�s place. When this hap-pens the older male then moves on to a newgroup.
Langurs spend some time each day grooming
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themselves and grooming each other. The adultfemales groom the male, the offspring, each otherand themselves.
Young langurs do almost no grooming, but theylearn what it is by watching the older monkeys.Jack is groomed by all the females of the group,but he gives little or no grooming in return.
Like all doucs, JD�s white tail is straight like apiece of rope. It is used to help him balance whenhe climbs and when he runs along slenderbranches.
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There are three species of douc langur, the north-ern or red-shanked douc (Pagathrix nemaeus),
the southern or black shanked douc (Pagathrixnigripes), right, and the grey shanked douc(Pagathrix cinereus). The gray shanked douc wasthe last species to be identified and is thought toreside only in Vietnam.
All douc langur monkeys are endangered, but thegray shanked douc is the most at risk.
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The most studied leaf eater is the common grayHanuman langur. Unlike the douc langur mon-key, the gray langur spends much of its time onthe ground. Gray langurs are well populated in
The Francois� langur, top, is also endangered, asis the rare Ca Ba langur.
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the wild too. These two facts make their habitsand behaviors easier to watch.
Douc langurs are the most colorful of all the leafeating monkeys, but they are hard to find be-cause they live hidden in the leafy tree tops. Thereare very few douc langurs remaining in the for-
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ests. Therefore it is hard for primatologists tostudy these intelligent primates.
Like all langurs, the douc langur eats and sleepsclose to its social group. But little is known aboutthem compared to what is known about mostother kinds of monkeys.
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Doucs are highly endangered because.....Over sixty percent of the forest in Vietnam isgone because of logging, farming and the Viet-nam war. This is called loss of habitat. Sadly,the forests are still being cut.
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Douc langurs are also hunted as food. They areconsidered a delicacy all over Southeast Asia.They are also in danger of becoming medicinalproducts. (Some traditional oriental medicines usedouc langur body parts.)
In Vietnam, laws have protected the monkeyssince 1992. Still, tourists often find endangeredmonkeys for sale when they travel in SoutheastAsia. Monkeys who are taken from the jungle andsold as pets do not mate and reproduce them-selves. When douc langurs are bought as pets,they usually have short lives. This is because a
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careful diet is critical with this type of monkey.Feeding them even small amounts of foods thatpeople eat can cause illness and suffering for themonkey. Most of them will die from improper diet.
Conservation can be complicated.....Protecting endangered animals in Southeast Asiahas not been easy for many reasons.
One problem is economics.....The poor people of these regions still want tomake use of native animals for food and trade.
Another problem is hunters and meat poachers
33who break the law deliberately by shooting andtrapping endangered monkeys. They profit byselling the skins of douc langurs to tourist shops.The meat is sold at a high price and the bonesare sold for medicines. Many of these huntersbelieve hunting is the best way for them to makea living. Some of them use guns to threaten rang-ers and conservationists.
Young endangered monkeys are sold as pets. Ifthey are not sold, baby monkeys are kept andfattened up like livestock to eat when they arefull grown.
34Endangered primates are also smuggled to othercountries for profit. Smugglers don�t understandthe care needs of the monkeys. The monkeysoften suffer and die during shipping.
Logging continues to deplete the forest habitatsof endangered monkeys. Loggers make a livingselling wood to be made into products that peoplewill use. If they are not regulated, loggers willcut down the remaining rain forests in Vietnamand other parts of Southeast Asia.
Lack of education is a big problem..... Somenative people who use endangered monkeys donot understand that these monkeys cannot be
found in otherparts of the world,that once they be-come extinct inSoutheast Asia,they will neverexist anywhereagain.
Ordinary peoplemay not under-stand the differ-ence between anendangered douc
35langur and a non-endangered mon-key like the long-tailed macaque.
One example is aVietnamese farmerwho wanted tomake cao (a thickm o n k e y - b a l mmade from boilingdown the bones,mixed with alcoholto be used as a me-dicinal prepara-tion). He could have legally collected macaquesfor this. Instead he shot six endangered gray-shanked douc langurs at one time. Although hewas fined, fining does not bring back the mon-keys.
Even people who are in charge of wildlife traf-ficking are not always educated enough to iden-tify the endangered monkeys from the non-en-dangered ones. This makes it hard for them toenforce the law.
Education is needed for local Viets so that mon-key meat is taken off their menus.
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Most hunters and loggers have no other skills. Aspecial education program could help them finda different way to make a living.
Reforming conservation efforts.....If toomany organizations have some responsibilityover rain forest protection, none of them willeffectively carry out that responsibility. One
37main organization needs to be responsible forsaving rain forests and endangered species ineach country, inlcuding the borders. Responsibili-ties need to be clear and specific, so the pro-grams can be enforced.
Types of monkeys are not always easy to identify.Park guards and rangers must have clear photo-graphs and the education to identify endangeredanimals.
Many more steps are involved in cases of wildlifetrafficking. Reports of illegal activity must be an-swered promptly. Rangers must be trained to dealwith uncooperative hunters and smugglers who arearmed.
Easy wildlife exploitation laws is a very big prob-lem. Law breakers can be fined but they cannotbe brought to court, even if the incident is seri-ous. The government needs to give more seriouspunishment for crimes against wildlife. Fining isnot enough of a penalty.
To prevent global extinction, conservationistsrecommend (1) that the wild populations mustbe protected (difficult, and has not yet been ac-complished), (2) that the monkeys be bred incaptivity (very few are currently being bred), and(3) that a safe, large natural habitat be pre-
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served for them in the wild (difficult, and has notyet been accomplished).
New strategies for primate conservation.....Some innovative conservationists are seeking to
39preserve endangeredmonkeys by involv-ing poor local villag-ers in their fate.
Conservation expertsrealize a primatereserve is notenough. Communityinvolvement isneeded. If the com-munity doesn�t wantto care for endangered monkeys, an outsidersconservation program will not work.
It is important for local villagers to establish theboundaries of primate reserves and help selectthe rangers that will patrol them. A weekly radioprogram, which includes conservation news, hasbeen started by one conservationist. Formerwildlife traders have been converted to teach-ers.
�At first native people don�t realize they are har-boring a monkey that exists nowhere else,� con-servationists say. �But they can develop a pridethat they are hosting the only population in theworld.�
Vietnamese primates are also threatened by
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their proximity to China, where their appe-tite for exotic monkey meat and medicineseems insatiable.
What you can do to help.....! Conserve and recycle paper, glass and plastics,etc. to save natural resources.
! Conservation programs are needed to help en-sure the douc langur�s future in the wild. Supportpeople who carry out endangered species breed-ing and study programs.
! Make douc langur posters as a group to helpwith a fund raising project. You can support theVietnamese Endangered Primate Conservation Cen-ter (CEPCC) in Cuc Phuong National Park with do-nations of money. This park works hard to rescueand care for douc langurs and other endangeredprimates that have been taken from the jungle.
! Get a class or group together and organize abake sale or a garage sale. Proceeds can be do-nated to the CEPCC or to a zoo (like the San DiegoZoo or the Oregon Zoo) that breeds douc langurs.
! Donate your time to help conservation groupslike CEPCC fund raise and put out their newsletter.
! Don�t buy rain forest products. Most throwaway
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chopsticks, some paper products and furniture aremade by the destruction of rain forest trees.
! If you visit Southeast Asia, so not buy animals,animal skins, exotic meats or other animal prod-ucts.
! Join the Peace Corp and work in Southeast Asiafor conservation.
! Write to your government officials and ask themto vote for measures that save the rain forest. Askthem to vote for measures to enact strict punish-ments for those who deal illegally in endangeredanimals.
! Human population control is very important. Don�tcontribute to over-populating our planet. An over-population of people has already started to depletethe earth�s rain forests and other natural resources.
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GlossaryAdapt: To change in order to live in a certain habitatCamouflaged: Hidden from sight by blending in to surround-ingsCommunication: To send a signalConservation: Planned protection of natural resources to pre-vent lossDaily rhythm: A repeated pattern of daily activitiesDeciduous forest: Trees that lose their leaves and are barebranched in the winter, then leaves are regrown in the springDiet: The food that an animal or person usually eatsEndangered species: A species whose continued existence isthreatenedExtinction: When not a single member of a species remainsaliveForage: To gather foodGrooming: To clean the fur and skinHabitat: The place where an animal or plant normally lives andgrowsMate: To join with an animal of the same kind to produce off-springMuzzle: The mouth and nose of an animalOffspring: The young or child of an animalPredators: Animals that hunt and kill other animalsPrey: Animals that are hunted and eaten by other animalsPrimates: Any of an order of mammals including humans, apes,monkeys and related forms (tarsiers and lemurs)Primatologist: Someone who studies primates (monkeys andhumans)Reserve: A protected place set aside for plants or animals.Species: A class of animals with common characteristics whoare capable of mating and producing offspringTerritory: An area of land or a foraging range defended by agroup of animalsWeaned: To stop dependence on the mother for nursingWild: Natural surroundingsWildlife exploitation: To use wildlife unjustly for one�s own ad-vantage