Grey-shanked douc langurs in Hòn Dồ mountain area, Quảng Nam Province. VNA/VNS Photo Đoàn Hữu Trung

QUẢNG NAM — A total of 68 grey-shanked douc langurs are living in Hòn Dồ mountain area, Quảng Nam Province.

The primates were found after an assessment of the area in Tam Mỹ Tây Commune , Núi Thành District.

This is an extra 18 langurs than the first time records began in 2018. 

Deputy Director of Quảng Nam Forest Protection Department Từ Văn Khánh, said: "This is a remarkable result of the community in protecting the grey-shanked douc langur, as well as the active involvement of the Government and agencies in controlling and preventing illegal hunting, trapping and capturing rare primate herds in recent years."

The grey-shanked douc langur is a primate endemic to Việt Nam. It is listed as critically endangered in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Quảng Nam is one of five provinces in the country that have been identified as home of the primate. 

To protect this rare species, the province has been expanding their habitat in Hòn Dồ mountain area from 30ha to 150ha from production forest to special-use forest. The expansion also helps ensure a suitable living environment for the sustainable development of the population.

Lê Văn Dũng, a member of the community group that is assigned to protect the grey-shanted douc langurs in the Hòn Dồ mountain area, shared that the rapid increase in number was a result of support the local community received to improve their livelihoods, which saw a drop in illegal hunting. 

"The expansion of habitat for the grey-shanked douc langur in Hòn Dồ mountain area is also an important factor to thoroughly solve the situation that the habitat of this rare primate is divided by production forests of local people," Dũng said. — VNS