Douc
Genus of Old World monkeys
The doucs or douc langurs make up the genus Pygathrix. They are colobine Old World monkeys, native to Southeast Asia, consisting of 3 species: red-shanked douc, black-shanked douc, and gray-shanked douc.
01Description
The doucs are colobine Old World monkeys, which make up the genus Pygathrix. They are native to Southeast Asia.
02Classification
Even though they are known as "douc langurs", they are in fact more closely related to the proboscis monkey and snub-nosed monkeys than to any of the langurs. They are part of the subfamily Colobinae of the family Cercopithecidae.
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black-shanked douc | P. nigripes (A. Milne-Edwards, 1871) |
Southeastern Asia |
Size: 60-76 cm (24-30 in) long, plus 56-76 cm (22-30 in) tail Habitat: Forest Diet: Leaves, as well as seeds, fruit and flowers |
CR Unknown |
| Gray-shanked douc | P. cinerea Nadler, 1997 |
Southeastern Asia |
Size: About 60 cm (24 in) long, plus 59-68 cm (23-27 in) tail Habitat: Forest Diet: Leaves, as well as buds, fruit, seeds, and flowers |
CR Unknown |
| Red-shanked douc | P. nemaeus (Linnaeus, 1771) |
Southeastern Asia |
Size: 61-77 cm (24-30 in) long, plus 55-77 cm (22-30 in) tail Habitat: Forest Diet: Leaves, as well as unripe fruit, seeds, and flowers |
CR Unknown |
03Appearance
Doucs have a distinct appearance. The red-shanked douc characteristically has bright maroon legs and reddish patches around the eyes. In contrast, the grey-shanked douc is less vibrant, with speckled grey legs and orange markings on the face. Both have dappled grey bodies, black hands and feet and white cheeks, although the cheek hairs of the red-shanked douc are much longer. The black-shanked douc has black legs. Their long hind limbs and tail allow these monkeys to be very agile in their treetop habitat.
04Behavior
They live in small family groups headed by one adult male. A single group may have several adult females, and many children. Young males unaffiliated with a family group often make their own troops. Females usually bear a single offspring at a time, which is suckled for about a year.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Douc”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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