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Close-up of the rare “primate queen” in Son Tra peninsula

The “queen” has a strangely radiant beauty. Going up the mountain to “catch” portraits of rare primates to satisfy my passion for photography, the most interesting thing for me is the way langurs “treat people” like-kind people!

Photographer Nguyen Dang De – Song Han Photography Club, Da Nang – talks about the brown-shanked douc langur population in the Son Tra peninsula.

Extremely rare “primate queen” in the World Red Book

The brown-shanked douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus)  belongs to the Old World monkey family as distinguished from the New World monkey), and is the most brightly colored of all primates.

They are known as “primate queens” because of their beautiful and unique appearance. From the knee to the ankle, these langurs look like a pair of sepia stockings with “brand name” material, looking very luxurious. Their forearms are gray-white. The hands and feet are also black.

The word “Douc langur” in Vietnamese means “monkey”. The brown-shanked douc langur is also known as the red-shanked douc langur, or the five-colored douc langur, “hiding its head and tail”…

In 2008, many newspapers published news on the discovery of the five-color langur in Son Tra peninsula, Da Nang. At that time, officials from the Institute of Biological Resources Ecology in Ho Chi Minh City informed that there were good signs that the Old World monkey population was developing very well here with 12 groups and hundreds of individuals.

According to the Open Encyclopedia – Wikipedia, the brown-shanked douc langur is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) in the World Red Book and critically endangered in the Vietnam Red Book. In Vietnam, the leaf-eating macaque is endemic to Indochina (mainly distributed in Vietnam, Laos, and a small part of Northeast Cambodia).

The “primate queen” species lives in tropical rainforest, semi-deciduous, sometimes secondary evergreen forests, karst forests, or mixed broadleaf and coniferous forests.

The brown-shanked douc likes to eat young, small and tender leaves but also likes fruit such as figs, buds, petioles, flowers and seeds. They eat peacefully side by side, sharing food without competing.

 Usually, they share a single canopy of foliage, they split the foliage with their hands, a generous act rarely seen in Old World Apes.

In addition to the Son Tra peninsula area, the largest population at present is believed to be distributed in the Dong Chau – Khe Nuoc Trong Nature Reserve. In Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (Quang Binh), Bac Huong Hoa Nature Reserve (Quang Tri) also has a large langur population.

 In addition, in Vietnam, there is a large population of brown-shanked douc langurs living in Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (Quang Binh), Bac Huong Hoa Nature Reserve (Quang Tri).

 Particularly in the Son Tra peninsula, there are currently no official statistics on the number of herds living here. In 2018, the Green Viet organization released a number of 1,300 langurs living in the “green lung” of Da Nang. But this data, even at the time of the information, is also controversial.

“Just by visual observation, you can see dozens of herds with hundreds of individuals, and many young langurs show that the population of brown-shanked douc langurs is developing well, a sign of conservation and effective protection of animals. rare objects in the Red Book of Vietnam and the whole world”, said Mr. Phan Minh Hai – Deputy Head of the Management Board of Son Tra peninsula and tourist beaches of Da Nang city.

“They “treat people” like decent people”

 – Dad, today there is a match between Vietnam and Laos, Dad

– Well, let’s climb up high and have a look

 – Too many community songs, sir

– Yeah, let’s not fly around, it’s cross-contamination

 – It’s raining, I don’t see photographers (photographers) coming up to play

Those are some of the many funny “captions” (captions, annotations on the social network Facebook) that catch the “trend” of the current news story of the “Son Tra langur photography association” associated with images capturing the moment. The beauty of the “queen primate” families living in the areas of Ho Sau, Ho Bim, cha forest, double banyan tree, silver stream, golden sand… interesting, including the location “Le slope” Hai Son” – the place where journalist Le Hai Son loves to take pictures of the pope.

Every day, many photography enthusiasts come to Son Tra forest, the section from Yet Kieu Street (the road connecting Da Nang city center with Tien Sa Port) towards the mountain towards the golden sand beach – where locals and tourists alike. It’s easy to have a chance to see “them” extremely close and bold, different from the defensive posture or menacing growl style commonly seen in wild animals when seeing strangers.

For nearly ten years, every day and every week “when I have free time, I go to visit them”, photographer Nguyen Dang De still remembers the early days of following two young friends in the Song Han photography club, Tran Minh and Mr. Vu Hoang went to the forest to lie down all day just to take a portrait of the pope.

It was 2013, at that time, not many brothers and sisters who loved photography went up to the forest to take pictures of langurs like now, the pope was very lazy, often staying at the top of the mountain and when they saw themselves, they snuck away. Now, it is more accessible, when photographers and langurs in Son Tra seem to have formed a “senior” friendship that is enough for individuals to live in the wild “like no one”, despite The whole forest of telephoto lenses is capturing every moment of the brown-shanked douc.

“Having to take pictures from a very far position, the easily recognizable feature of the douc tree canopy is the long, white, straight tail. The primate queen has a strange beauty, an animal wearing colorful fur, The noblest I’ve ever seen, especially the red-brown legs, the charisma of the “big brothers” (the leader of the pack)”, Mr. Nguyen Dang De said.

According to Wikipedia, a group of langurs usually has 4-15 individuals, in particular, a population of up to 50 animals is recorded. A male usually has 2 females as his wife. The way to tell the difference is that the male’s beard is thicker. Douc husband and wife usually mate between August and December every year; 4-5 months pregnant; In the spring-summer of next year, the young douc langur is born right in the ripe fruit season. Doucs give birth to only children, very rarely twins. Douc langurs from 8 months of age onward begin to mature.

Ten years of “visually vivid” life of the “primate queen” in the heart of Da Nang city, Nguyen Dang De said, from looking for langurs to satisfy his passion for photography, he had to pull his wife and children together. Go to the forest to see langurs treat their wives, husbands, and children “with utmost responsibility and affection”

In the herd, the male usually has a more important position. Each “husband” has 2-3 “wives”. The “grandmothers” live together very harmoniously, which is reflected in the most delicate thing, the “husband and wife relationship” and the way the big ones in the herd and the langurs train the young.

 The way to identify a family of langurs is by the sound of rattling from the green foliage overhead in the forests. They are passing branches. When training the young, the father will model and encourage the “baby” to fly, jump confidently, firmly and quickly over the towering treetops. Meanwhile, the mother langur often pampers the young. The baby langur often sits next to the father to observe the world, and often cuddles and hugs the mother’s belly.

The normal brown-shanked douc moved noisily from branch to branch through the forest, through trees, hopping on branches and bouncing on both feet at the same time, demonstrating excellent balance. his great.

But when there is a “turn”, sensing danger, they can run away quietly through the branches.

“I don’t know if it’s too much, I think it’s just that the langurs can’t speak human language, the rest are just like humans. The young langurs sometimes “have to” with each other and then obediently live in order. peace of a family of the same species with the character of “knowing first, knowing later” and giving in to each other”, journalist Dang Thu Thuy, a langur so passionately walking in the middle of the jungle, “sees a whitetail poking out I’m also happy” talking about the langur families she is familiar with.

For Ms. Thuy, her favorite is the charisma of the leading popes. These “big brothers” usually have a steady, calm appearance, deep facial expressions and behave “very adult” to protect the herd.

“When the herd moves, the leading langur will go first, then it will turn around and sit still, watching until the group has moved safely to another canopy, it will move last with the herd. The douc langur’s plumage is usually very beautiful. In the high tree canopy, it does not play with young langurs, is not as busy as the mother and father. When it comes to portrait photos of langurs, the leaders are often the best models”, Ms. Dang Thu Thuy described her experience of “falling in love” with the primate queen with a telephoto lens that followed her “on the road”. Son Tra Island.

If Da Nang has an iconic mascot – it’s the brown-shanked douc langur

Da Nang is truly a destination endowed with nature. The young, vibrant and modern city is favored as a “living city” in the central part of our country with the sea, the river, and the “green lung” surrounded by Son Tra.

The national nature reserve covers an area of ​​more than 4,000 hectares and the elevation at the summit reaches nearly 700 meters above sea level. This is the natural greenhouse of thousands of species of animals and plants; in which, there are more than 20 species of rare plants such as cha chai, brooch, mahogany, precious pearls, chestnuts…; 15 species of rare animals such as long-tailed monkeys, brocade pythons, red-faced chickens… and brown-shanked douc langurs can be said to be the most famous and rare species in Son Tra peninsula.

“Just like Australia has a kangaroo, China has a panda, New Zealand has a kiwwi…, if Da Nang has an iconic mascot, it’s definitely the brown-shanked douc langur,” said Mr. The Management Board of Son Tra peninsula and Da Nang tourist beaches said.

 More than four years ago, when Da Nang hosted the APEC 2017 event , welcoming many heads of state from around the world and tens of thousands of high-level delegates, the city has chosen the brown-shanted douc langur as a symbol associated with the destination. this “top” event. The gifts of Da Nang for visiting friends often have the image of the “primate queen”.

 According to Mr. Phan Minh Hai, the population of brown-shanked douc langurs in the Son Tra peninsula not only has effective biological conservation value in the ecosystem of “golden forest, silver sea” with nature bestowed on Da Nang but also is a “magnet” attracting tourists to Da Nang, developing Da Nang tourism and in fact, the smokeless industry is a spearhead of the city’s socio-economic development.

The world today is a flat world. A photo of a herd of brown-shanted douc langurs has just been posted on social networks, immediately being shared by nature lovers, wildlife research enthusiasts, photographers, and potential tourists of Da Nang everywhere. world. There are groups of tourists who fly directly from Europe to Da Nang right after viewing the photos, just to see the very endangered animals listed in the World Red Book.

The existence of the brown-shanked douc langur population, the sense of species conservation, and the branding of the destination associated with the image of this primate queen will create a sustainable attraction to locate Da Nang on the global tourist map. Follow (Dan Tri)

Photo: Dang De – Minh Hai

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