Critically Endangered
White-headed langur
Trachypithecus poliocephalus
The Cat Ba langur, also known as the golden-headed langur, is a critically endangered species of langur endemic to Cát Bà Island, Vietnam.
Appearance
Both T. Poliocephalus and T. Leucocephalus are overall blackish, but the crown, cheeks and neck are yellowish in T. Poliocephalus, while they are white in T. Leucocephalus, as suggested by its scientific name. According to the Cat Ba Langur Conservation Project, the Cat Ba langur's skin is black and the pelage color is dark brown. Head and shoulder are bright golden to yellowish-white. Babies are colored golden-orange. The pelage starts to change its color from about the fourth month on.
The tail is very long (ca. 85 cm (33 in)) compared with the body size (ca. 50 cm (20 in)).
Range and habitat
Cat Ba island is the largest island within the Cat Ba archipelago, with 366 smaller islands and tidally exposed rocks surrounding it. As all members of the Trachypithecus francoisi species group, this social, diurnal monkey is found in limestone forests. Critically endangered, this langur resides near Ha Long Bay, specifically in Cat Ba Island, hence its common name "Cat Ba Langur".
The Cat Ba langur, also known as the golden-headed langur, is a critically endangered species of langur endemic to Cát Bà Island, Vietnam. There is a strictly protected sanctuary, a peninsula on the eastern coast of Cat Ba Island, in the National Park and supports about 40% of the population.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
In crisis
It is among the rarest primates in the world, and possibly the rarest primate in Asia, with population size estimated at less than 70 individuals. The Cat Ba langur is listed as one of The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates and is assumed to have declined by 80% over the last three generations. It is estimated that there are less than 70 of these langurs left in the world.
In November 2000, Münster Zoo and ZSCSP, the Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations, started the Cat Ba Langur Conservation Project. The Cat Ba langur's distribution range was declared a National Park in 1986, however that did not stop the poaching and decline of the population.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
White-headed langur is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on White-headed langur, Wikidata item Q929055. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
