White-headed langur - Monkey family Langur genus animal
[Animal introduction]:
White-headed langur (scientific name: Trachypithecus leucocephalus): It is named because it feeds on leaves. The tail is long and suitable for arboreal habitat; the body is slender and has no cheek pouches. This species has a body length of 50-70 cm, a tail length of 60-80 cm, and a weight of 8-10 kg. It is similar in shape and size to the black langur , with a smaller head, a thin body, slender limbs, and a tail longer than the body length. Its body hair is also mainly black. Different from the black langur, it has a tuft of upright white hair on its head, which is shaped like a pointed white melon-skin cap. The white-headed langur is an endangered species in the world and a national first-level protected wild animal unique to China. The wild population is only distributed in Chongzuo City, Guangxi.
live in groups, usually with 5-9 members, with the adult male as the leader. They are diurnal animals that start foraging in the early morning. Their main food is leaves, fresh buds, flowers, bark and some fruits. The average lifespan of white-headed langurs is 25 years. It has a narrow distribution and a rare number. There are only a few hundred left. It is one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world and is recognized as the rarest monkey in the world.
[Morphological characteristics]:
The male head and body length is 55-63 cm, the female head and body length is 47-55 cm, the male tail length is 82-89 cm, and the female tail length is 77-82 cm; the male weight is 8-15 kg, and the female weight is 6.7-8 kg. It is similar in shape and size to the black langur, with a smaller head, a thin body, slender limbs, and a tail longer than the body length. Its body hair is also mainly black. Different from the black langur, it has a tuft of upright white hair on its head, which is shaped like a pointed white melon-skin cap. The neck and two shoulders are white, the upper half of the tail is black, the lower half is white, and there is some white on the back of the hands and feet.
The cubs of white-headed langurs are very beautiful, with golden hair all over their bodies. As the golden cub grows, first the middle part of its body slowly turns gray, and finally it takes on the appearance of its parents.
[Habitat]:
The habitat of the white-headed langur is located in the karst area with lush subtropical vegetation in southern Guangxi, China. It has a typical karst terrain, with continuous stone mountains, steep peaks, cliffs and karst caves everywhere, providing a good natural environment for its survival and reproduction.
[Life habits]:
cluster
White-headed langurs are alert, very lively, active, and very good at jumping. The slender body, slender limbs and well-developed buttocks are perfectly adapted to the life of arboreal and rock-dwelling animals. They can jump freely in the woods or on steep cliffs and walk like flying. The long tail plays an excellent balancing role. It likes to live in groups, and the group is not too big. If it is a group, it will be a small group of five, six, or more than a dozen, and rarely more than twenty. The size of the group is related to the leadership ability of the monkey king. If the leadership ability of a monkey king is weak, then when the group grows, some monkeys will run away and form a new group, and the monkey group will be smaller. Therefore, some newly formed monkey groups are similar to families, and the number of newly formed families is small. And some that have not been divided into groups for a long time will become larger, and there may be more than a dozen, or even twenty.
Fighting for the King
In this group society, there is only one adult male monkey, the monkey king, and the others are adult female monkeys. This is a polygamous society. Then there are some immature monkeys in this monkey group. These immature monkeys are both female and male. After these young monkeys reach sexual maturity at the age of three or four, the female monkey remains in the monkey group and breeds offspring with her mother and other aunts. When young male monkeys approach sexual maturity, they leave their birth group and become kings of other monkey groups. This process requires fighting. If this new little male monkey wins, then he can become the monkey king in another monkey group.If it fails to win, it will continue to form a temporary group with several young male monkeys. After the new monkey king takes office, a very cruel situation will occur, which is infanticide. This allows the female monkey, who originally had the baby monkey, to mate with it as soon as possible and produce its own offspring.
Activities
They go out early and come back late. They live a very regular life. After dawn, they climb out of the cave on the cliff where they live at night. After taking a rest about 30-40 meters away from the cave, they start jumping and jumping between cliffs or tree canopies, just like acrobatic artists performing in the sky. After that, they jump to the tree crowns or bushes to eat delicious leaves, buds, wild flowers, wild fruits, etc., while eating and playing, their hands are busy, and sometimes they even make love to each other for a while to help catch parasites on their bodies. Around noon, some went back to the caves to rest, while others sat on trees or on rocks facing the sun, closed their eyes and meditated, without disturbing each other. After the lunch break, they started to play and feed again, and as the sun set in the west, they gradually moved towards the cave where they live. At dusk, we returned to the cave and after confirming that there was nothing abnormal, we crawled into the cave one by one to sleep.
Food habits
The white-headed langur is called a leaf monkey as the name suggests, because it eats leaves and young leaves and branches of plants. 80%-90% of its food is leaves. In its environment, in the environment where it lives, there are various leaves. It picks what kind of leaves it likes to eat according to each season, and its feed intake is not high. Because its stomach has such a chamber that can decompose cellulose , the leaves it eats can be decomposed very quickly. White-headed langurs usually live in caves at night. They live in this cave for a long time and defecate at the entrance of the cave at night. So over time, there was some dark brown excrement just below the hole.
[Distribution range]:
China is only distributed in a very narrow triangular area between Zuojiang and Mingjiang in Guangxi, covering an area of less than 200 square kilometers. The specific locations include ht in Longzhou County, Guangxi ml4Shangjinxiang, Tingliang, Tuolong Township of Ningming County, Luobai Township, Banli Township of Chongzuo City, Banli Township, Shutuan Town, Tuolu Town; Parts of the five townships of Bapen, Shanwei, Qujiu, Quli and Dongmen of Fusui County.
[Reproduction method]:
White-headed langurs mainly mate in autumn and give birth in spring. White-headed langurs are very beautiful when they are born, with golden hair all over their bodies. After one year, the golden cubs begin to slowly change color. First, the middle part of the body slowly turns gray, grayish yellow, gray, and then black. The head also begins to change slowly. After one and a half years old, except for the difference in body size, the body color is basically the same as that of the adult. Only the head of the newborn cub can rotate freely when sucking milk or sleeping in the female's arms; at 7 days of age, the top of the head and the lower part of the tail turn to creamy yellow, and the head can move flexibly, and a pair of bright eyes begin to look around. It usually holds the female tightly with both hands and is unwilling to accept the caress of other female animals;
2 At the age of 0 days, some crests begin to grow, and they can leave the female to crawl or jump on the ground; after 2 months of age, they are quite different from the cubs of black langurs. Some longer black hairs grow on the back, and many parts such as the top of the head, around the cheeks, abdomen, limbs, and the lower half of the tail begin to appear white, and gradually become consistent with the adult's coat color. By the time it is 6 months old, it is already able to live independently and eat freely, but it still sleeps in the female's arms.
[Protection Level]:
is listed as a first-level protected animal in China's " National List of Key Protected Wild Animals " and is listed as an endangered species in the "Red Data Book of Endangered Animals in China".
is listed in the "World Conservation Union Red List of Threatened Species" (IUCN) 2015 ver 3.1 - Critically Endangered (CR).
is listed in the " Washington Convention " CITES Class I protected animals.
is listed in the first level of China’s “List of National Key Protected Wild Animals” (February 5, 2021).
[Population status]:
China has carried out various research and protection work on this rare species and strives to save it from extinction. In the early 1980s, there were only more than 80 white-headed langurs left in the Bapen Nature Reserve and Banli Nature Reserve in Guangxi. At that time, the total number of white-headed langurs in Guangxi was estimated to be more than 200, and they were already in an extremely endangered state. After sustained efforts on many fronts, the total number of white-headed langurs has reached about 800. As of February 2022, the population of white-headed langurs has increased from about 500 in the early years to more than 1,300.
White-headed langurs are only distributed in a very narrow triangular zone between Zuojiang and Mingjiang in Guangxi, covering an area of less than 200 square kilometers in China. Only two places, Shanghai Zoo and Guangzhou Xiangjiang Wildlife World , have artificially raised white-headed langurs. Huang Chengming, a researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that under such a situation, it is crucial for Guangxi to protect the white-headed langurs. If the white-headed langurs here become extinct due to careless protection, it will mark the complete disappearance of the white-headed langur species on the earth.
Although the number of white-headed langurs continues to rebound, and with the joint efforts of protected areas and relevant experts and scholars, their reproduction trend continues to improve, their protection still cannot be taken lightly. For example, during the severe drought in Guangxi in 2009, the white-headed langurs living in the karst mountainous area had great difficulty in drinking water. Huang Chengming said that although the annual precipitation in the area where the white-headed langurs live can reach 1,900-2,000 millimeters, once the rainfall stops, the rainwater will quickly flow along the cracks in the karst rocks to the underground river. If the drought lasts for a long time, their drinking water will be a big problem. In order to solve the drinking water problem of the white-headed langurs, many scientific researchers and animal protection people went to the mountains to deliver water to the white-headed langurs and set up water supply points.
On May 10, 2019, three white-headed langur cubs were discovered in the Chongzuo White-headed Langur National Nature Reserve in Guangxi.
