Better to Know about Son Tra Langur

Son Tra langur is exactly red shanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus, five-colored langur, vooc cha va chan nau, vooc cha va chan do), one of 25 world’s most endangered primates. This animal is endemic to Vietnam, southern Laos, and northeastern Cambodia (or Indochina region). According to IUCN, it is categorized conversation status ‘critically endangered’ because it has been facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. 

Those who live near the peninsula call red shanked douc ‘the Pope’ because it has a beautiful and elegant ‘costume’ or ‘solder monkey’ because its crown hair looks like a beret hat which military soldiers wear.

In 1771, French scientists discovered and grouped up red shanked douc, grey shanked douc, and black shanked douc into the same ‘species’. In the late 20th century, their differences were clarified.

In Son Tra Peninsula, there are about 300 red shanked douc individuals living in its evergreen forests. This may be the largest population of the species known on the Earth. At the present, 550-700 doucs are recorded in the Indochina region.

Similar to other doucs, the red shanked douc is long and slender. The male has has a head and body length of 55-82 centimeters, with a tail that measures 56-74 centimeters, and the female is between 60–63 centimetres long with a tail that measures 44–60 centimetres long. Males weigh 8.6–11.4 kilograms, and females 6.6–10.5 kilograms.

Known as ‘queen of primates’, red shanked douc has the most colors in the primate family. Its name derives from red hair temples and red lower legs. Besides that, it has a silver crown, black forehead/back/abdomen/feet/hands/nipples, white whiskers/cheeks/throats/sacral area, orange collar, yellow-brown face, light blue eyelids, black arms. No surprise, it’s a muse of photographers who are willing to have lively, impressive wildlife pictures.

Red shanked douc appears in daytime (roughly from 4:30 am to 6 pm). Its family often stays in a tall, big, and lush tree, and includes from 4 to 12 members, with a male/father as leader, some females, and childs. It eats young leaves (maybe 1,8 kilograms a day) and spends hours digesting. It can jump with a distance up to 6 meters (approx 20 ft), mainly to move from tree to tree, and not to escape from dangers.

Female mature red shanked douc’s pregnancy lasts from 165 to 190 days. Usually, it has only one baby, and twins are rarely seen. The doucs begin mating at age of 4. Their life span is up to 25 years.

Red shanked douc is the mascot of APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Conference) taking place in Da Nang from 6th to 11st November 2017. Likewise, traditionally it’s considered to be an emblematic animal to the city.

Monkeys in Linh Ung Pagoda and Lady Buddha statue, are not red shanked doucs. They are just normal monkeys which we can see everywhere in the world. However, if see them at the above attractions or on the way from the city, please don’t give them any food. It’s needed to protect the bag as well (because they may think that foods are in the bag).