About

• Gee’s golden langur (Trachypithecus geei), also known simply as the golden langur, is an Old World monkey found in a small region of western Assam and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
• An endangered species of monkey, found only in Assam and parts of Bhutan.
• They are endemic to the semi­-evergreen and mixed-­deciduous forests. In Assam, its main population is in the Manas Biosphere Reserve and Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary. Chakrashila is India’s first wildlife sanctuary with golden langur as the primary species.
• The golden langurs habitat in Assam is surrounded by three rivers — Brahmaputra in the south, Manas in east and Sonkosh in west. Their northern limit is the range of hills in Bhutan up to 2,400 metres above sea level.
• To avoid inbreeding (mating among close individuals), golden langurs live in specific groups.
• The recorded estimation in Assam in 2009 was 5,140.
• It is listed in Appendix I of CITES and in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

What are threats?

• They largely travel through upper branches and canopy of the trees. But habitat in Assam has fragmented drastically in the last 30 years. They survive mostly on a variety of juicy leaves. But fragmentation of forests and selective logging is making their food scarcer for them.
• Electric wires have been another great threat to them. Unlike the Hanuman langurs elsewhere, golden langurs are yet to adapt to the wires. Recently they have experienced the death of a female golden langur.

Why in the news?

• Primatologists have recently found that occurrences of infanticide and forced abortion practices among golden langurs.
• Forced abortion and infanticide happen when a new male takes over a female. He often kills the baby of a lactating female or hits the abdomen of a female impregnated by the deposed male till the point of abortion.
• Since a female give birth to a child once in 2-3 years, the practice of infanticide and abortion makes them vulnerable to extinction.
• For example, in 2019, Bhutan recorded a drop of 62% in the population of golden langurs over the 2009 census.