A gray-shanked douc langur (pygathrix cinerea) is found living in a forest in Núi Thành district of Quảng Nam Province. Two new families with some 10 gray-shanked douc langurs have been found in the area. Photo courtesy of ÁI Tâm

QUẢNG NAM — Two families of 10 gray-shanked douc langurs (pygathrix cinerea) – a critically endangered (CR) species – have been newly found in the 30ha secondary forest in Tam Mỹ Tây commune of the central province’s Núi Thành district.

A report on the existence of the CR gray-shanked douc langurs population in the area was released yesterday after a six-month survey by the Centre of Biodiversity Conservation, GreenViet.

Director of GreenViet, Trần Hữu Vỹ, said the new families of the gray-shanked douc langurs were found in the expanded mountains outside of the Dồ Mountain – home to the most crowded population of the langurs – increasing the number of the CR primates to eight families with a total of 60 individuals from 2018.

He said the survey had been done on six other mountains – Rơm, Dương Chổi, Nà Lấm, Bằng Trục, Bà and Giang Thơm – 500m away from the centre of six families with 50 of the gray-shanked douc langurs at the Dồ Mountain.

He said the result strongly confirmed that the population of the CR primate’s species has been well protected and grown, but it has not yet identified reproduction among the new families.

The new families of the langurs were found living in two mountains of Nà Lấm and Bằng Trục, he added.

Biologists from GreenViet also reported that 323 flora and fauna species, of which 11 species were listed as endangered in Việt Nam’s Red Book.

However, biologists also warned the provincial people’s committee and rangers on the dangers including fire, snares at log farms, honeybee and orchid exploitation in the 120ha forest and log farms. The human activities among local farmers would badly impact the langurs in the area in the coming years.

GreenViet has been co-operating with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Việt Nam and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Green Annamites Project in promoting protection and conservation of the langurs.

Quảng Nam Province had been seeking a fund of $4.4 million to restore a 120ha area as a safe habitat for the gray-shanked douc langurs.

According to Frankfurt Zoological Society, some 1,000 gray-shanked doucs have been found in forests of Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Kon Tum and Gia Lai.

The gray-shanked douc langur is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list as one of the world’s 25 critically endangered primates.

The primates can only be seen in Việt Nam. — VNS