The time passes quickly and there is far less time to write personal things then I thought there would be, and so, so much to write about. I’m sure people would love to know about the amazing array of colorful butterflies and other insects, the brilliant sunsets, the stunning plant diversity, or the stark landscape, but what people are probably most interested in is the langurs.

What are langurs? This is a question I am often asked. In the most simple terms, they are a family of Old World leaf eating monkeys in the family Cercopithecidae, with long hands, minimal thumbs, and long, flexible tails used for balance in their acrobatic lives. The Cat Ba Langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus poliocephalus) is a highly endangered species of langur found only on Cat Ba Island, Vietnam, a species often confused with, but very distinct from the closely related White-Headed Langur that is found in Guanxi, China.

The Cat Ba Langur has the dubious distinction of regularly being included as one of the top 25 most endangered primates in the world. This is not a distinction of honor, it is much like being classified as a survivor of genocide or a citizen of a repressive dictatorial regime. By endangered I do not mean that there are only a few hundred left, I mean truly, desperately endangered, as in only a small handful left.

There are less than 60 remaining 70 (as of mid-2015) in the wild and only 5 in captivity.

It is my privilege to be working with this species, in conjunction with a number of remarkable people representing a diverse array of organizations, to keep these animals from going extinct. This is no easy task, one during which I learn new things every day and must adjust my preconceptions on a regular basis.

From my previous post you, gentle reader, have an idea of the rugged nature of Cat Ba Island, a land of sheer cliffs, wickedly sharp limestone, and convoluted shoreline.

My work has a strong political component and winds up being largely logistical and administrative, but I am fortunate enough to head-up a small organization where I do get to take part in field-work on a semi-regular basis. All of our activities are focused on langur conservation, no matter how separate those activities may feel at any given time. This is both a relief and a pleasure as the region is spectacularly beautiful and the local folks I work with have the souls of gentle and generous giants.

Langurs, as a group, are not large monkeys; the Cat Ba Langur has a body about the size of a small child, but with long limbs and an expressive tail longer than the monkey’s body. Their expressions are surprisingly deep and soulful, as though they are pondering something we humans have lost sight of, yet are aware of and amused by the conceit of doing so.

The adults are black with white/yellow heads, gray suspender-like lines on their flanks, and wonderful punk-rock hairdos. The breeding groups are female dominated and small, the largest one being about 16 individuals. There tends to be one reproducing male per group that is often a little separate from the larger body, keeping watch, and the like. Females share child-rearing duties, sometimes carrying young of other females, and all members are often in close physical proximity.

Their calls are a mixture of chirps, hoots, coughs, and an amazing deep growling ratchet that echoes from the cliffs and sounds as though it comes from something the size of an overweight gorilla. I have not managed to record the sound yet, or I would post a copy of it as it really is astounding.

The young are a brilliant orange/gold color when born, a color that slowly fades as they age and provides pretty much the only visually obvious way of determining age for the individuals. Their markings are so uniform that is is impossible to tell individuals of the same age apart unless one has an obvious injury, which few, fortunately, do.

As the animals age they slowly lose the gold color, starting at at the mid-point in their limbs. The young remain playful well into adulthood, probably a survival characteristic as play has been demonstrated to be a necessary part of physical and social development.

Monkeys in general and langurs especially have long been recognized as being stunningly agile, highlighting the importance of the physical benefits of extended play time during periods of physical development. Those of you familiar with Indian mythology will remember the character Hanuman, one of the heroes of the Ramayana (shameless plug: William Buck’s Ramayana retelling is fantastic reading). In this tale Hanuman, the Monkey King, Son of the Wind is a god-like figure adept, wise, and agile, embodied with great physical and moral strength, the ability to fly, and one of the most likable, playful , and morally unambiguous characters of this set of nested tales. Hanuman is thought to be a Gray Langur (aka. Hanuman Langur – Semnopithecus entellus), an agile species bearing a robust beard most mountain-men would be jealous of.

On the landscape of Cat Ba the importance of physical agility absolutely cannot be understated. Stanley Kubrick once stated, ” The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent.” The landscape of Cat Ba is indifferent with a vengeance, in a way that belies the rich tropical vegetation. Under and frequently poking through that green blanket of life is a landscape of razor-blades that, when the vegetation is stripped away, appears to come from the post-apocalyptic imagination of a science-fiction writer. This is home to the Cat Ba Langur; the same landscape we humans struggle to navigate while doing field-work the langurs treat with the same casual approach that we treat a trip to the mailbox.

What will happen to this species is far from settled and depends heavily on far more than our work. It depends on the education, support, and involvement of a far larger society. If any of you feel the drive to support the conservation of a beautiful and heart-rendingly rare species please take up arms. It doesn’t need to be this particular one, the world is, unfortunately, full of non-human species of all kingdoms that would benefit from your support. Some are photogenic species such as this langur, others are innocuous plants or insects. Some are found in exotic locations like this limestone island in northern Vietnam, others may literally be in your backyard.

These primates have suffered a 98 percent population crash as a result of hunting for traditional medicines, habitat destruction, and several other pressures. There were never very many, we cannot speculate about their peak numbers, but during the 1960s there were between 2500 and 2700 on the island. When our project started in 2000 there between 40 and 53 left alive in the world (surveys are difficult on the island and early surveys relied heavily on local people’s statements). Very little is known about this species and we are desperately trying to increase that body of knowledge as we do our conservation work. Fundamental questions are still unanswered and the challenges of field-work in this environment impose severe limitations on many traditional methods of study.

For those of you who feel compelled to support our project, we welcome you: our project is the Cat Ba Langur Conservation Project (please excuse how out of date the website is, our attention has been focused on more pressing concerns) and I can be reached at the following address: neahga.leonard@catbalangur.de

If you are visiting Cat Ba, come say hello.