GOLDEN SPIRIT

Survival of the shy primate is closely tied to the health of Western Ghats

- KA SHAJI

As dawn arrives in the Western Ghats, the hushed night is broken with a piercing hoot: high-pitched yet fitting with the natural rhythm of the landscape. It is the call of the Nilgiri langur, a black-bodied primate with a golden mane and amber eyes, perched high across the branches. Its slender tail, often longer than its body, helps it balance as it leaps across the canopy.

As the name suggests, the langur— a term used for the subset of Old World monkeys endemic to the Indian subcontinent—is found mostly in the Nilgiri hills, along with the Silent Valley, Wayanad, Periyar and Agasthyamalai ranges of Kerala and the Mudumalai, Kalakkad-Mundanthurai and Mukurthi National Parks of Tamil Nadu. A fairly shy primate, it prefers to occupy remote habitats with few humans nearby. Scientists encounter most Nilgiri langurs at higher elevations. Its preferred habitat includes evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, as well as shola-grassland mosaics at higher altitudes of 300-2,000 metres.