Abstract
The Golden Langur Trachypithecus geei is a rare colobine monkey with a very restricted range being confined to Western Assam in India and Bhutan. In Assam, at least 19 fragmented areas now hold the species, which was originally a single habitat. The langur distributed from the subtropical forests of Western Assam to the broadleaf forests of Bhutan. The individuals of Golden Langur in Manas, Ripu, and to some extent Chirang have link among themselves and also with Bhutanese populations, and the remaining populations found in fragmented areas have no link and became isolated. The estimated total population in India is 5600 individuals, and most of the information on this species was available in the form of short-term studies; most of them are about the status and distribution. None of the population was monitored for longer period of time, and the population inhabited both in India and Bhutan are declining. Golden Langur is folivorous in nature and feeds on a variety of food plants. Activity pattern showed a bimodal diurnal activity pattern in feeding with peaks in the morning and evening hours. Golden Langur is threatened by habitat fragmentation. In fragmented areas, they cause considerable damages to food crops. To maintain its populations for the future, long-term and large-scale planning is necessary.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bentham G, Hooker JD (1962–1983) Genera plantarum ad exemplaria imprimis in herbariis kewensibus servata defnita, 3 vols. Reeve & Co., London
Bentham G, Hooker JD (1983) Genera plantarum. Lovell, Reeve and Co, London, p 475
Chapman CA, Lawes MJ, Eeley HAC (2006) What hope for African primate diversity? Afr J Ecol 44(2):116–133
Chetry R, Chetry D (2009) The golden langur. Gibbon Conservation Centre. Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Mariani, p 206
Cheyne SM, Rowland D, Hoing A, Husson SJ (2013) How orangutans choose where to sleep: comparison of Nest-site variables. Asian Primates J 3(1):13–17
Clutton-Brock TH (1977) Some aspects of intraspecific variation in feeding and ranging behavior in primates. In: Clutton-Brock TH (ed) Primate ecology: studies of feeding and ranging behavior in lemurs, monkeys and apes. Academic Press, London, pp 539–556
Cowlishaw G, Dunbar RI (2000) Primate conservation biology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Cowlishaw G, Pettifor RA, Isaac NJB (2009) High variability in patterns of population decline: the importance of local processes in species extinctions. Proc R Soc B Biol Sci 276(1654):63–69
Das R, Sinha H, Sahu HK, Choudhury K (2013) Golden Langur Trachypithecus geei (Khajuria, 1956) feeding on Cryptocoryne retrospiralis (Roxb.) Kunth (Family: Araceae): a rare feeding observation in Chirang reserve Forest, Assam, India. J Threatened Taxa 5(15):5013–5015
Eka HD, Aris T, Nadiah W (2010) Potential use of Malaysian rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) seed as food, feed and biofuel. Int Food Res J 17:527–534
Forest Survey of India (FSI) (2004) Forest cover change matrix. Assam
Gamble JS (1935) The flora of the Presidency of Madras. Adlard and Son’s Ltd, London, p 2017
Ghosh S (2009) Report on the distribution and population of golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) in Bodoland territorial council. Assam, India, pp 1–44
Horwich RH, Das R, Bose A (2013) Conservation and the current status of the golden langur in Assam, India, with reference to Bhutan. Primate Conserv 1(27):77–83
Huang C, Wei F, Li M, Li Y, Sun R (2002) Sleeping cave selection, activity pattern and time budget of white-headed langurs. Int J Primatol 24(4):813–824
Johns AD, Skorupa JP (1987) Responses of rain-forest primates to habitat disturbance: a review. Int J Primatol 8(2):157–191
Khajuria H (1956) A new langur (Primates: Colobidae) from Goalpara District, Assam. Ann Mag Nat Hist 12(9):86–88
Medhi R, Chetry D, Bhattacharjee PC, Patiri BN (2004) Status of Golden Langur, Trachypithecus geei in rubber plantation in Western Assam, India. Int J Primatol 25(6):1331–1337
Mukherjee RP, Saha SS (1974) The Golden Langurs (Presbytis geei Khajuria, 1956) of Assam. Primates 15(4):327–340
Narasimmarajan K, Nagarajan R, Kumaraguru A (2011) Some observations on demography and edible plants of Lion-tailed Macaques (Macaca silenus) in the rain forest fragmented habitats of Anamalai Hills, Western Ghats. J Res Biol 1(5):352–362
Pathak DC (2011) Organochlorine insecticide poisoning in golden langurs Trachypithecus geei. J Threatened Taxa 3(7):1959–1960
Ramakantha V, Gupta AK, Kumar A (2003) Biodiversity of Northeast India – an overview. In: Gupta AK, Kumar A, Ramakantha V (eds) ENVIS bulletin: wildlife and protected areas, conservation of rainforests in India, pp 25–40
Reynolds V (2006) Threats and protection of the chimpanzees of the Budongo forest reserve. In: Newton-Fisher NE, Notman H, Paterson JD, Reynolds V (eds) Primates of Western Uganda. Springer, New York, pp 391–403
Roy D, Nagarajan R (2013) Food plants and sleeping trees used by Golden Langur (Trachypithecus geei, Khajuria, 1956) in fragmented forests of Assam, India. Mayur 9:72–77
Roy D, Nagarajan R (2015) Dry seeds of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis)-a fall-back food for golden langur with respect to habitat fragmentation in Assam, India. Students Conference on Conservation Science on 8–12 Sept 2015 at IISC, Bangalore, India
Roy D, Nagarajan R (2016) Use of sleeping trees by golden langurs (Trachypithecus geei). Taprobanica 8(1):33–36
Roy D, Nagarajan R (submitted) Plant diversity in the diet of Golden Langur Trachypithecus geei in Kakoijana Reserve Forest, Western Assam, India. J Threatened Taxa
Saldanha CJ (1995) Flora of Karnataka. Oxford and IBH Pub Co, New Delhi, p 1984
Saldanha CJ, Nicolson DH (1976) Flora of Hassan District, Karnataka, India. Amerind Pub Co, New Delhi, p 915
Saunders DA, Hobbs RJ, Margules CR (1991) Biological consequences of ecosystem fragmentation: a review. Conserv Biol 1(5):18–32
Sristava A, Biswas J, Das J, Bujarbarua P (2001) Status and distribution of Golden Langurs (Trachypithecus geei) in Assam, India. Am J Primatol 55(1):15–23
Stanford CB (1991) The diet of the capped langur (Presbytis pileata) in a moist deciduous forest in Bangladesh. Int J Primatol 3(12):199–216
Wangchuk T (2005) The evolution and phylogeography, and conservation of the Golden Langur (Trachypithecus geei) in Bhutan. D.Phil. thesis, University of Maryland
Wangchuk T, Inouye DW, Hare MP (2003) A new subspecies of Golden Langur (Trachypithecus geei) from Bhutan. Folia Primatol 72(2):104–108
Wolfe DN, Switzer WM, Carr JK, Bhullar VB, Shanmugan V, Tamoufe U (2004) Naturally acquired simian retrovirus infections in central African hunters. Lancet 363(9413):932–937
Zhou Q, Wei F, Huang C, Li M, Ren B, Luo B (2007) Seasonal variation in the activity patterns and time budgets of Trachypithecus francoisiin. The Nonggang Nature Reserve. China. Int J Primatol 28(3):657–671
Acknowledgments
We thank the Assam Forest Department for the permission to conduct research within reserve forests of Assam, India. We thank Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), India, for their help in identifying plant species and A.V.C. College (Autonomous), Department of Zoology and Wildlife Biology, Tamil Nadu, India, for their support. We thank Nature’s Foster (NGO, based at Bongaigaon Assam, India) for their moral support. We thank our field assistants Mr. Kartik and Mr. Bhuban for their help in the field.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Roy, D., Nagarajan, R. (2018). Biology, Ecology, and Conservation of Golden Langur, Trachypithecus geei . In: Sivaperuman, C., Venkataraman, K. (eds) Indian Hotspots . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6605-4_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6605-4_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6604-7
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-6605-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)