LANGURS
LANGURS, LEAF MONKEYS, LUTUNGS, AND SURILIS
The langur group, of the subfamily Colobinae, includes five genera and at least forty-six species and forty-one subspecies.
DOUC LANGURS
Genus: Pygathrix
Pygathrix nigripes
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
The black-shanked douc langur is one of three species of douc langurs (the red-shanked and the gray-shanked are the other two) and is found only in eastern Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam, residing in primary and secondary monsoon forests and rainforests, from medium to high altitudes. Cambodia’s Mondulkiri…
Pygathrix cinerea
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
The gray-shanked douc langur is endemic to the Central Highlands forests of Vietnam and possibly to a small area of Cambodia. They reside mostly in dense evergreen rainforests in the lower parts of mountains, between 3,000 to 4,300 feet (900 to 1,300 m) above sea level. They can also live in degraded forests…
Pygathrix nemaeus
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
Of the three douc langur species—gray-shanked, black-shanked, and red-shanked—the red-shanked douc langur is the only one recorded in all three countries of Indochina: Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. They live in evergreen, semi-evergreen, and limestone forests up to 5,200 feet (1600m) and spend most of their time in…
GRAY LANGURS
Genus: Semnopithecus
Semnopithecus hypoleucos
CONSERVATION STATUS: LEAST CONCERN
Black-footed gray langurs, also called dark-legged Malabar langurs and Malabar sacred langurs, are endemic to the Western Ghats, a mountain range on the southwestern coast of the Indian peninsula. They are found at altitudes ranging between 300 and 3,900 feet (100–1,200 m) in the patchy rainforests and…
Semnopithecus ajax
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
The Chamba Valley of Himachal Pradesh, a mountainous state of northwestern India situated in the Western Himalayas, is home to the Kashmir gray langur. Whether or not this leaf-eating monkey inhabits the region of Kashmir (one of the species’s namesakes) is uncertain. However, some wildlife biologists assert that Kashmir…
Semnopithecus schistaceus
CONSERVATION STATUS: LEAST CONCERN
The Nepal gray langur, also called the central Himalayan langur, lives (as the name implies) in the Himalayan region, from central Nepal to Tibet, into areas of Bhutan, India, and Pakistan. They are the northernmost population of gray langurs, and they are one of only a few colobine species to live in temperate regions as…
Semnopithecus johnii
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The Nilgiri langur, also known as the black leaf monkey, hooded leaf monkey, Indian hooded leaf monkey, John’s langur, Nilgiri black langur, or Nilgiri leaf monkey, is endemic to India. Specifically, Nilgiri langurs occur in a patchy distribution across the Western Ghats mountains in southwestern India. They live at elevations…
Semnopithecus entellus
CONSERVATION STATUS: LEAST CONCERN
The northern plains gray langur is one of eight species of gray langur and is also known as the Hanuman langur, Bengal langur, or sacred langur. They are found across a wide area of India, south of the Himalayas. Northern plains gray langurs are also found in Western Bangladesh, although this population is believed to have…
Semnopithecus vetulus
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Purple-faced langurs, also known as purple-faced leaf monkeys, are endemic to Sri Lanka. In Sinhala, one of the official languages of Sri Lanka, they are known as “the black monkey of Sri Lanka.” Located near the southern tip of India, the tropical island of Sri Lanka is teeming in biodiversity. This is thanks in part to its varying…
Semnopithecus hector
CONSERVATION STATUS: NEAR THREATENED
Tarai gray langurs occur in southwestern Bhutan (in Pankhabari), northern India (in Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal), and southwestern Nepal (in Rajaji National Park) at elevations of 490–5,250 ft (150–1,600 m). They are very flexible in their habitat choices and can be found in a variety of habitats, from the moist…
Semnopithecus priam
CONSERVATION STATUS: NEAR THREATENED
Tufted gray langurs are endemic to the forests of southern India and Sri Lanka. The Western Ghats are a unique region of mountainous forests on the west coast of south India. This ecoregion has a range of forest types from dry deciduous to tropical. Most of the Indian gray tufted langurs live in these forests and form large…
LUTUNGS
Genus: Trachypithecus
Trachypithecus pileatus
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The capped langur is found in Bhutan, northeast India, Bangladesh, western Myanmar, and possibly China. They live in subtropical and montane forests rich in vegetation and freshwater streams. The region is characterized by steady moderate temperature and heavy rainfall during the summer months. There are four capped…
Trachypithecus poliocephalus
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
The Cat Ba langur, or golden-headed langur, is only found on Cat Ba, the largest (110 sq m / 285 sq km) of the 367 islands that comprise the Cat Ba Archipelago in the Gulf of Tonkin, northeastern Vietnam. It is the only island in the archipelago where humans live (approximately 13,000) and where tourism has developed over…
Trachypithecus delacouri
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
The Delacour’s langur is endemic to a small section of northern Vietnam just south of Hanoi. Their few remaining subpopulations mostly inhabit open subtropical rainforests, spending most of their time on limestone rocks and in caves. Delacour’s langurs are noted for the distinct white patches of fur over their thighs, which is…
Trachypithecus obscurus
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Dusky langurs—also known as spectacled langurs, dusky leaf monkeys, and spectacled leaf monkeys–are found primarily on Asia’s Malay Peninsula. Their range includes southern Burma (Myanmar), parts of Thailand, and the Malaysian islands of Langkawi, Penang, and Perhentian Besar. These arboreal primates…
Trachypithecus francoisi
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Francois’s langurs, also known as the Tonkin langur and the Tonkin leaf monkey, live in the forests that grow along the steep ledges of limestone mountains, known as karst, which are a signature of the landscape of northern Vietnam and southern China. Historically, their distribution spanned across Vietnam’s northeastern…
Trachypithecus geei
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Gee’s golden langurs, also known as golden leaf monkeys, or more simply as golden langurs, live in northeastern India and southern Bhutan. They are confined to this geographic region by the Manas and Sankosh rivers to the east and west, the Brahmaputra river in the south, and the Black Mountains to the north. Here…
Trachypithecus hatinhensis
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
The Hatinh langur is endemic to Vietnam—a Southeast Asian country about the same size as New Mexico—and to the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos. Although Hatinh langurs are not actually gibbons, locals often refer to them as long-tailed or black gibbons. These elusive creatures inhabit the dense Annamite…
Trachypithecus germaini
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Also known as Germain’s langur, the Indochinese silvered langur is found in Eastern Asia, west of the Mekong river. They are distributed across a large part of Cambodia, as well as parts of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. This species inhabits a range of forested habitats, including lowland, semi-evergreen and…
Trachypithecus phayrei
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Phayre’s leaf monkey, also known as Phayre’s langur, is an Old World monkey native to Southeast Asia. Its geographic distribution spans the countries of India (specifically, the northeastern states of Tripura, Mizoram, and Assam), Bangladesh, Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), China, Lao PDR (Laos), Thailand, and…
Trachypithecus cristatus
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The silvery lutung, also known as the silvered leaf monkey or the silvered langur, is found in Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. They may occur on Batam in the Riau Archipelago as well. Silvery lutungs prefer dense forests; however, their habitat varies depending on the region they inhabit. In the Malayan Peninsula, they live in…
Trachypithecus auratus
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
Spangled ebony langurs are Old World primates in the Colobine, or leaf-eating, family. They are endemic to isolated forest fragments of East Java, as well as the small islands of Bali, Lombok, Palau Sempu, and Nusa Barong. These volcanic islands are home to deciduous forests drenched by heavy downpours during the…
Trachypithecus mauritius
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The West Javan ebony langur is a species of Old World monkey native to the island of Java, west of Jakarta. They are well at home in the lush forests of the island, occupying primary and secondary dry deciduous, mangrove, beach, freshwater, swamp, and hill forests. Until recently, West Javan ebony langurs were…
Trachypithecus leucocephalus
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
Home to the white-headed black langur, or more simply known as the white-headed langur is the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) of southern China, bordering Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin. Demarcating the species’s narrow geographic range is the Zuojiang River in the north and northwest; the Mingjiang…
PIG-TAILED LANGURS
Genus: Simias
Simias concolor
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
Endemic to Indonesia, the pig-tailed snub-nosed langur (also known by its less-pejorative nickname, the simakobu monkey) is found only on the archipelago of Mentawai off the western coast of Sumatra. Interspersed through the islands of Siberut, Sipora, North Pagai, and South Pagai, and through a few offshore islets…
SURILIS
Genus: Presbytis
Presbytis melalophos
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
Black-crested Sumatran langurs (Presbytis melalophos), also called mitered leaf monkeys, yellow-handed mitered langurs, or Sumatran surilis, are tree-dwelling primates from southwestern Sumatra—Indonesia’s largest island. They can also be found on Pulau Pini, a small island in the Batu Archipelago off the northwestern…
Presbytis hosei
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The Hose’s langur is a small monkey endemic to subtropical and tropical dry forests of Borneo, the third-largest island in the world. The island is divided among three countries: Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Hose’s langurs are found in the biodiverse forests of Brunei, Sarawak and Saba (Malaysia), and Kalimantan…
Presbytis comata
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
The Javan surili, also known as the grizzled leaf monkey, Javan leaf monkey, or Javan grizzled langur, is native to the volcanic island of Java, one of four tropical islands that comprise Indonesia’s Greater Sunda Islands (the three others being Borneo, Sulawesi, and Sumatra). Found mostly in West Java, this leaf-eating…
Presbytis rubicunda
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The Maroon leaf monkey is an arboreal primate that is found on the island of Borneo, as well as the smaller nearby island, Karimata. Within Borneo, they can be found in Danum Valley living at altitudes of 6,563 feet or less (2,000m). Borneo is an island that is shared by Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. Maroon leaf monkeys…
Presbytis natunae
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
The Natuna Island surili, or Natuna leaf monkey, lives on the Bunguran Island of the Natuna archipelago, some 140 miles (225 km) north of Borneo in South East Asia. The whole island is about 656 square miles (1,700 square km), which is about half the size of Rhode Island, the smallest state in the US. Limited distributions, like…
Presbytis femoralis
CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
The Raffles’ banded langur is native to the southern tip of the Malaysia and the island nation of Singapore. Their distribution and habitat are limited to small pockets of forests. In Singapore, they are mostly found in the Bukit Timah and Central Catchment Nature Reserves. While in Malaysia, they are only found in the states…
Presbytis robinsoni
CONSERVATION STATUS: NEAR THREATENED
Robinson’s banded langurs naturally occur in the northern peninsula of Malaysia, South Myanmar, and Thailand. They live in tropical and subtropical forests but have adapted to secondary growth and agricultural plantations. Though there are no published estimates of their population, Robinson’s banded langurs are…
Presbytis siberu
CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED
The Siberut langur, also called the sombre-bellied Mentawai Island langur, is endemic to the island of Siberut, the northernmost of the Mentawai Islands off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Being endemic means that they are only found on that single island, and are not found naturally anywhere else in the world. They…
Presbytis thomasi
CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE
Indicative of one of its aliases, Northern Sumatran leaf monkeys, Thomas’s leaf monkeys inhabit the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, residing in remote Aceh Province. The species’ range extends north of the Wampu and Simpangkiri Rivers and stretches to the southern bank of the Simpangkiri River. Home range is…
Presbytis siamensis
CONSERVATION STATUS: NEAR THREATENED
White-thighed surilis, also known as pale-thighed langurs (a species of leaf monkey), are endemic to Southeast Asia. Isolated populations reside in the countries of Indonesia on the island of Sumatra and east of Sumatra on the granite islands of the Riau Archipelago within the Strait of Malacca; in the Peninsular Malaysia…