The beautiful Black Giant Squirrel is one of the largest squirrels in the world. It inhabits tall primary forest and generally remains high in the canopy, but at times may be found at lower levels when feeding. It is largely solitary in habits and extremely shy, rarely coming to ground. It can confidently make huge leaps from branch to branch in the high canopy. The black giant squirrel rarely enters plantations or settlements, preferring the wild forest. Its diet consists of seeds, pine cones, fruits, and leaves. It is primarily solitary, and has a litter of from 1 to 2 young, which it raises in a drey (or nest), often located within a hollow space of a tree. Its upperparts and tail are jet black, but the cheeks, chest, front of the forelimbs and underparts are cream or orange. The tail is long and dorso-ventrally flattened. It is found in forests from northern Bangladesh, northeast India, eastern Nepal, Bhutan, southern China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and western Indonesia. However, in recent decades, Black Giant Squirrel’s habitat has been steadily encroached upon by human settlement, timber harvesting and agriculture, which along with overhunting by human predation in parts of […]
Gee’s golden langur or simply the golden langur, is an Old World monkey found in a small region of western Assam, India and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan. It is one of the most endangered primate species of India. Long considered sacred by many Himalayan people, the golden langur was first brought to the attention of the western world by the naturalist E. P. Gee in the 1950s. The coat of the adult golden langur ranges from cream to golden; on its flanks and chest the hairs are darker and often rust coloured; the coats of the juveniles and females are lighter, silvery white to light buff. The golden langur has a black face and a very long tail measuring up to 50 cm (19.69 in) in length. Apart from their fur, Gee’s golden langurs are known for having long tails which can grow up to 39 inches long, even longer than their bodies, especially in males. They use these tails to swing from one tree to another. When they are alarmed, however, they will leap from tree to tree instead. The regions of its distribution are very small; the main region is limited […]
The capped langur (Trachypithecus pileatus) is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is also called as Bonneted Langur, Capped Leaf Monkey, Capped Monkey. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Myanmar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. They are arboreal and gregarious by nature. A herd of capped langur consists of 2 to 14 langurs led by a brawny male langur. They are herbivorous, ingesting leaves, twigs, buds and fruits. The capped langur is a large monkey, with males bigger than females. The face is black, with sharply contrasting paler, buff to reddish cheeks. The head is blackish with long, erect coarse hairs directed backwards in what looks like a cap, and hence the name. The dorsal colour varies from light ashy-grey to blackish. The outer side of the thigh and shoulder as well as the distal half of the tail is deep grey or blackish. The ears, palms, and soles are black. The colour of the ventral parts varies in the subspecies, ranging from cream to reddish. Infants are a uniform creamy-white, with a golden hue. The face, ears, palms, and soles are pinkish. The head […]
