Langurs – Large, Long-limbed and Handsome

Langurs – Large, Long-limbed and Handsome

francois langur

Francois’ langur

 

Some langur monkeys are very handsome and to watch them with their serene, content gaze you might think they are aware of this. The douc for example has very fine coloring: pink and white face; white arms, cheeks and throat; black hands and red legs and red patches – what a distinguished design. The different species do come in a nice variety of colors with black, brown, yellow, gray and white parts. There is even a so-called “purple-faced” one from Sri Lanka but its face is really black. Often the babies are a whole different color than the adults (golden or black) and as they mature they change colors. Sometimes the hairs point upwards making something of a cap.

 

douc male

Douc

 

dusky leaf langur

 

golden langur

Golden

 

himalayan langur

Himalayan

 

They are the common leaf monkeys of the Orient with maybe 60 or more species in the group or closely related. They are average, medium-large-sized monkeys, a balanced 2 ft (0.6 m) with a tail of the same proportion. They are agile with strong hands and feet, and can leap well.

 

purple faced langur

Purple-faced

 

silver langur baby

 

spectacled langurs

Spectacled

 

white headed

 

They are not a quarrelsome type and don’t often fight with each other. Although they can climb very well, they are mostly interested in exploring for food (mostly vegetation) on the ground. Their deadly enemies are tigers and leopards and scouts are usually on the look out ready to call the alarm if any predators are spotted.

The langurs possess an impressive repertoire of vocalizations with a variety of barks, grunts, honks, growls and screams.

There is generally a male leader in the groups and females give birth to one offspring at a time, which is kept very close for 4 months and weaned after about a year.

 

spectacled langur baby