Red-shanked Douc

About this species

Diet

Leaves (mostly buds and young leaves), with some fruit and other plant parts

Habitat

Evergreen forest

Range

Vietnam, southern Laos and possibly north-eastern Cambodia, east of the Mekong

The red-shanked douc is an arboreal, diurnal Old World monkey of the Colobinae subfamily, known for its bright colours, and endemic to Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. It is one of three douc species, the others being the black-shanked and grey-shanked doucs. The main threats are hunting, habitat loss and the pet trade. It lives in fission-fusion, multilevel societies averaging 18 animals per band (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is highly folivorous: in Son Tra Nature Reserve, 54.8% of the diet was buds and young leaves, 22.6% mature leaves and 18.9% other plant parts, and over 226 plant species were eaten, with five (including Acacia pruinescens, Ficus racemosa and Millettia nigrescens) accounting for 47–82% of feeding time. In Vietnam it lives between Nghe An and Gia Lai provinces; the Son Tra Nature Reserve near Da Nang holds the largest Vietnamese population, about 700–1,300 animals, and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is another important site. Laos is believed to hold the largest population overall.

Description: Wildlife of Vietnam guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)