Golden Langur

About this species

Size

Head and body 50–75cm; tail 70–100cm

Weight

Males about 10.8kg; females about 9.5kg

Diet

Fruits, leaves, seeds, buds and flowers

Habitat

High trees

Range

Western Assam, India, and the foothills of the Black Mountains in Bhutan

Gee's golden langur has a black face with a large whorl of hair on the crown and a long tail up to 100 cm. The adult coat ranges from cream to golden, with darker, often rust-coloured hairs on the flanks and chest, while females and juveniles are lighter. The coat changes with the season, white or cream in summer and dark golden or chestnut in winter. Males average 10.8 kg and females 9.5 kg (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is found in a small area of western Assam and the neighbouring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan. It lives in high trees and eats fruits, leaves, seeds, buds and flowers, and the average group is eight animals, with several females to each adult male. A survey counted 6,000 golden langurs in India in 2008–09 and 7,396 in 2020–21, about 5,566 of them in the northern population and about 1,830 in the fragmented southern one. It was first brought to wide notice by the naturalist E. P. Gee in the 1950s (Wikipedia, general species account).

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