World’s Second Largest Population of Rare Langurs Discovered in Vietnam

Vietnam’s scientists have spotted a new group of critically endangered primates, a population of Delacour’s langurs, marking it as the world’s second largest population so far. Scientists from Fauna & Flora International (FFI) Vietnam saw a group of about 40 primates, most of them were juveniles and infants, in the forests in the northern region, the newswire VnExpress.net reported, citing Hoang Trinh from FFI. He said the world’s largest population of primates is also in Vietnam. Earlier, scientists feared that these rare creatures might fade away because of intensified mining and poaching activities recently. The number of langurs had dropped sharply. The exact location of the discovery has been kept secret to prevent poaching, Akofa Wallace, public relations and media liaison officer at FFI Vietnam. “We've notified the Vietnamese authorities of our findings and recommendations, and we will continue to work alongside officials and local communities to ensure the Delacour’s langur doesn’t become this century’s first primate extinction,” Benjamin Rawson, country director of FFI Vietnam, said at a recent conference in Chicago. The primate was discovered in northern Vietnam in the 1930s by French scientist Jean Theodore Delacour, and are only found in Vietnam. Vietnam is home to some of world’s most endangered species, including the mountainous antelope Saola, the Red river giant soft-shell turtle, and the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey. (VnExpress.net Aug 23, Zeenews.india.com Aug 25)