Nilgiri Langur

Taxobox
name = Nilgiri LangurMSW3 Groves | pages = 166]
status = VU
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006 | assessors = Participants of CBSG CAMP Workshop: Status of South Asian Primates | year = 2004 | id = 44694 | title = Semnopithecus johnii | downloaded = 2007-07-29]


image_width= 210px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Cercopithecidae
genus = "Trachypithecus"
species_group = "T. vetulus"
species = "T. johnii"
binomial = "Trachypithecus johnii"
binomial_authority = (J. Fischer, 1829)

The Nilgiri Langur ("Trachypithecus johnii") is a lutung (a type of Old World monkey) found in the Nilgiri hills of the Western Ghats in South India. Its range also includes Kodagu in Karnataka, Palani Hills in Tamil Nadu and many other hilly areas in Kerala. This primate has glossy black fur on its body and golden brown fur on its head. It is similar in size and long tailed like the gray langurs. Females have a white patch of fur on the inner thigh. It lives in troops of five to 16 monkeys. The animal is often seen encroaching into agricultural lands. Its diet is comprised of fruits, shoots and leaves. The species is endangered due to deforestation and poaching for its fur and flesh, the latter believed to have aphrodisiac properties.

References

External links

*ARKive - [http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Semnopithecus_johnii/ images and movies of the Nilgiri langur "(Semnopithecus johnii)"]