Douc Langurs are among the most beautiful and endangered primates in the world. They are only found in three countries in the world: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Like so many primates worldwide, poaching, trapping and illegal trade are threatening their survival in all three countries. This situation exists for many reasons but most significant are a lack of effective law enforcement and the prevailing climate of corruption at all levels of government whose job it is to protect them.
The red shanked Douc Langur has been located in the forests of north/central provinces of Vietnam and central and south eastern forests of Laos. New discoveries have also demonstrated that red shanked doucs are found in north eastern Cambodia. The black shanked douc is found in central and southern provinces of Vietnam and in the eastern and southern forests of Cambodia. Black shanked doucs do not occur in Laos. The grey shanked douc, a new and critically endangered form, has been located in a restricted distribution in central Vietnam.
All doucs are entirely restricted to wooded habitats. Populations of doucs have been found in monsoon forests as well as rainforests and their forest homes include: semi evergreen, lowland lower montane and upper montane forests types. All forests are rapidly disappearing in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos as a direct result of intense and often illegal logging activities which supply hardwoods prized by the building trades for construction of houses, floors and furniture. Also forest land is being converted to agriculture at an increased rate as people move into the forests along with logging operations.
Some of what is known about doucs
The douc langur: a time for conservation
Lippold LK. 1977. The douc langur: a time for conservation. In: Rainier III) Prince of Monaco, Bourne GH, editors. Primate Conservation. New York: Academic Press. 513-538.
Natural history of douc langurs
Lippold LK. 1998. Natural history of douc langurs. In: Jablonski NG, editor. The natural history of the doucs and snub-nosed monkeys. Singapore: World Scientific. p191-206.
Primate conservation in Vietnam
Lippold LK. 1998. Primate conservation in Vietnam. In: Jablonski NG, editor. The natural history of the doucs and snub-nosed monkeys. Singapore: World Scientific. p293-300.
The time is now: survival of the douc langurs of Son Tra, Vietnam
Lippold LK, Vu NT. 2008. The time is now: survival of the douc langurs of Son Tra, Vietnam. Prim Conservation 23:75-79.
Feeding ecology of Red Shanked Douc Langurs at Son Tra Nature Reserve, Da Nang, Vietnam
October 2022, Primate Conservation 36:1-14.
