Miller's langur (''Presbytis canicrus''), also known as Miller's grizzled langur or Kutai grey langur, is a species of
leaf monkey
The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications split ...
. It is endemic to
East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan ( Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3 ...
on the island of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. It is one of the world's most endangered primates, and was at one time thought to be extinct, until it was rediscovered in 2012.
Taxonomy
Miller's langur is a leaf monkey within the family
Cercopithecidae and subfamily
Colobinae
The Colobinae or leaf-eating monkeys are a subfamily of the Old World monkey family that includes 61 species in 11 genera, including the black-and-white colobus, the large-nosed proboscis monkey, and the gray langurs. Some classifications s ...
.
[ It was formerly considered a subspecies of Hose's langur, ''Presbytis hosei'' (as ''Presbytis hosei canicrus'').] It was split from ''P. hosei'' on the basis of different morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
by primatologists Colin Groves
Colin Peter Groves (24 June 1942 – 30 November 2017) was a British-Australian biologist and anthropologist. Groves was Professor of Biological Anthropology at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.
Education
Born in Englan ...
and Christian Roos.
Distribution and habitat
Miller's langur is native to the island of Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
in the province of East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan ( Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3 ...
in Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. It lives in dipterocarp
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = f ...
rainforests up to an elevation of about .[
]
Description
Miller's langur ranges from to long excluding tail and has a tail length ranging from to .[ Males weigh from to while females weight between and .] The fur on its back is gray with a grizzly appearance, and the fur on its belly is whitish.[ The upper part of its face is black while the lower part of its face is whitish, with the whitish part forming a U shape below the nose.][ It has a brown crown at the top of its head.][ Infants are white with a black cross on their backs.][
]
Habits
A majority of Miller's langur's diet comes from young leaves and leaf shoots, and their next most important food item is unripe fruit.[ It also consumes other items such as eggs, seeds and flowers.][ It typically lives in groups ranging from 5 to 12 animals including a single adult male, with an average group size of 8 monkeys.][ Non-group males are solitary.][ It is sympatric with two other leaf monkeys from the genus ''Presbytis'', the ]maroon leaf monkey
The maroon langur, maroon leaf monkey, or red leaf monkey (''Presbytis rubicunda'') is a member of the family Cercopithecidae. It is found on the southeast Asian island of Borneo and the nearby smaller Karimata. ''P. rubicunda'' mostly live in fo ...
and the white-fronted surili.[ It is known to utilize salt licks along with sympatric maroon leaf monkeys.][ It is arboreal and diurnal, and spends a majority of its time in the mid to upper canopy of the forest.][
]
Conservation status
Miller's langur is listed as endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
by the IUCN due primarily to habitat loss, fragmentation and hunting. It is one of the rarest primates in Borneo. With little information available, it was thought to be extinct several times.[ In 2012, a team of international scientists rediscovered it in Wehea Forest in East Kalimantan, Borneo, disproving its extinction.]["Rare Miller's Grizzled Langur Rediscovered in Borneo"]
23 January 2012 ScienceDaily Retrieved 26 October 2012
20 January 2012 CBC.ca Wehea Forest is outside Miller's langur's previously known range, which was primarily Kutai National Park
Kutai National Park is a lowland national park located on the east coast of Borneo Island, in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesia, ranging approximately 10 to 50 km north of the equator.
Geography
The park is located north of th ...
to the south of Wehea. The scientists used mineral licks and cameras to show that the species still exists, and had difficulty identifying it from the photos since so few photos previously existed.[ Limited to a geographical range from the central coast of East Kalimantan to the Kutai National Park, the species is highly regarded as an endemic and extremely vulnerable primate. Experts speculate it becoming extinct in the very near future, due to multiple factors such as deforestation and overhunting for its ]bezoar
A bezoar is a mass often found trapped in the gastrointestinal system, though it can occur in other locations. A pseudobezoar is an indigestible object introduced intentionally into the digestive system.
There are several varieties of bezoar, s ...
stones and as a food source. The bezoar stones, which are smooth, hard mineral deposits found in the digestive tracts of some animals, are used as good luck charms, and also for its alleged ability to neutralize some poisons, but only occur in a minority of the monkeys.[ Although Miller's langur is protected under Indonesian law, the legal protections may be ineffective because it is listed under a defunct scientific name, ''P. aygula''.][
In October of 2019, Forrest Galante led an expedition and recorded the first video evidence of a Miller's langur in the 21st century.]
References
11. https://nypost.com/2019/10/29/extinct-or-alive-host-forrest-galante-discovers-rare-monkey/
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q11827058, from2=Q104248290
Endangered fauna of Asia
Endemic fauna of Borneo
Endemic fauna of Indonesia
Mammals described in 1934
Mammals of Borneo
Presbytis
Primates of Indonesia