We’ve got great news! A new Delacour’s langur was born in the semi-wild enclosure and we just got the very first photos of this happy family. Check them out in this video.
Delacour’s langur is considered to be the flagship of, not only the EPRC, but also of Cuc Phuong National Park. With estimated population of less than 250 individuals, seeing an offspring born in EPRC always gives us a sense of privilege and pride because our conservation efforts have been paid off.
A population of at least 500 grey-shanked doucs has been uncovered by Fauna & Flora International (FFI) during a recent field survey conducted in Kon Tum Province, Vietnam. This almost doubles the known global population of this enigmatic and beautiful primate.
Read the report: In search of the grey-shanked douc
“To discover a large population of one of Vietnam’s most rare and precious animals is truly an honour,” said Trinh Dinh Hoang, who led the survey effort. Prior to this discovery, the entire species was thought to have only 800-1,000 individuals remaining, and consequently has been listed as one of the 25 most endangered primates in the world.
Restricted to the forests of central Vietnam, the main threats to the grey-shanked douc are deforestation, habitat fragmentation and hunting. Doucs are targeted for the illegal wildlife trade and are hunted for bush meat, traditional medicine and the pet trade.
On the afternoon of 24th, February, Endangered Primate Rescue Center received an inform from Hai Phong city’s Forest Protection Department about a case of loris confiscation. If we successful take over this loris, then it would be the 21st member in the loris family of EPRC.
Without any hesitation, we took the earliest bus to Hai Phong the following day to take over this case because from our experience, confiscated primates tend to be in a not-so-good condition, and time is gold. But fortunately, when we arrived at the loris’ temporary shelter, which is the house of the kind-hearted man named Duc who found the loris, he was in a relatively good condition. How Duc treated the loris was a touching story.
Tet holiday (Lunar New Year) to the Vietnamese equals Christmas to the Christians, Diwali to the Indians, Khmer New Year to the Cambodians. And having to work while everyone else is celebrating would be everyone’s last choice, including Mr. Long. This photo of the week introduces Mr. Long, one of our most dedicated keepers, to our readers and his Tet at EPRC.
Ms. Hue embarked on her animal keeping job with EPRC since 2007. This Tet holiday was another year that Hue’s absence from home due to work left his husband to handle Tet chores alone. Let’s find out how she feels about spending Tet with the langurs in this short conversation I had with her this morning while she was hand-feeding langurs.
This morning we went to check on the weight of our lorises to keep track of our animals’ growth and took Beni, the Red-shanked douc langur, for a walk and play. Let’s take a look some of the most adorable primates living in EPRC.
Beni was confiscated in Hue and then arrived at our center in November 2015 when he was estimated to be 9 months old. To lose one’s family from such a young age usually imprints a certain degree of trauma on an animal’s memory. For this very reason, we knew straight away that Beni will be received special attention from us before he can live harmoniously with other langurs in a big enclosure.
On 30th of December, three homesick grey-shanked douc langurs escaped from the semi-wild area at EPRC and managed to find their way back to the cage which was once their home.
In the middle of a meeting, we got a call from one of our keepers reporting about an incident where our langurs escaped. We rushed to the spot with just sweet potato, a whistle and a cage. What we saw was three grey-shanked douc langurs out of four that had been living in the semi-wild area hanging around on top of an enclosure and on the tree branches. Our tactic was to try and lure them into the cage using food and whistling.
It struck our heart to write the “What’s going on” this time, as the most adored douc langur in our center Butz passed away on December 27th. As gloomy as it is to tell you this story, we think that Butz deserves every condolences from his friends and fans he can have.
On the morning of 27/12, our hearts were scattered into pieces the moment we walked into the door and saw Butz lying motionless on his bed in the quarantine room. Although his death was foreseeable because of his old-age, the strange feeling when the most loved animal in our centre forever changed his residency to heaven struck us deeply. Farewell my old friend. We will take great care of your wife and your son.
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