AUSTRALIAN FANTASY ADVENTURES

WHO IS FRANCOIS AND WHAT IS HIS LANGUR?

Photo credit: http://www.lpzoo.org/animals/factsheet/francois-langur

This unusual primate is endangered due to habitat destruction. Now that we have that bad news out of the way, we can talk about Francois’ Langur and learn a little bit about him.

Langurs are very strange looking, old-world monkeys. There are thirteen species of Langurs and they all have long-tails and distinctive loud calls. They have a tall crest of black fur on their head and a white stripe of fur running from the corners of their lips up to their ears. What’s even stranger is baby Langurs have orange fur with black markings. Their black silky coat grows in as they mature. It is also interesting to note that although they have long tails their tails are not prehensile. In other words, their tails are not used for gripping or wrapping. They are, nevertheless, extremely agile traveling easily and swiftly through the trees.

Photo credit: http://www.factzoo.com/mammals/francois-langur-facial-hair-monkey.html

Francois’ Langurs are social primates, living in groups ranging from four to thirty individuals. They find protection in numbers, help each other forage for food and share the responsibility of caring for their young.

Photo credit: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8963860/fullscreen

They can grow to a length of twenty-five inches and weigh up to approximately sixteen pounds.

Francois’ Langurs have a highly folivorous diet. That means that they eat a lot of leaves. However, they will also eat an occasional piece of fruit, seeds, bark, bugs and insects.

Photo credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Francois'_Langur

Langurs live in the southern Guangxi province of China, in northern Vietnam and west-central Laos. Unlike most langurs, Francois’ Langurs live in higher altitudes in semi-tropical monsoon forests. A monsoon forest is a partly deciduous and partly tropical forest that experiences alternating seasons of heavy rainfall and prolonged drought.