Golden Langur - Nearby Manas

[Debasis Bose]

These beautiful Golden Langur, are at the brink of extinction. Supposedly less than 500 are left in the wild in India and another about 500 to 800 are surviving in Royal Manas Park of Bhutan

Nikon D4s, Nikor 300 F4 FL ED, Shot @ 300 F9, ISO 1270, 1/500s

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Wonderful image. Nice composition. Is it on the Bhutan side of the Manas River? What is the present arrangement with India for managing wildlife in Royal Manas N.P ? Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Debasis Bose]

Dear Saktida, This image is shot in India about 15 km from Manas. There are three hills that has become trapped island within mainland and has perfect forest cover ideal for Golden Langur. The villagers surrounding the forest act as conservationist. However, due to inbreeding I have my serious doubt about their survival. From the scenario that I saw in Border, I do not think there is any arrangement between India and Bhutan about wildlife management. Bhutanese and Indians are crossing the border and visiting markets at both side freely. The forest is facing human animal conflict, forest department controlled fire as well as villagers are igniting jungle fire, poaching is at rampant, forest department lacks willing workers and of course tension among various tribes and terrorism. Still among all odds Manas and its beautiful biodiversity is fighting for survival.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Trachypithecus geeii

Nice to see this species from Manas. It was once devastated by extremists. Hope it recovers soon. How many of these did you find near that village?

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Shyamala Kumar]

Beautiful image and very informative write up about this endangered species.