My Soccer World

Twist in the langur tale

PANKAJ SEKHSARIA

How common is the common Hanuman Langur?

Scientific makeover: They are different. Photo: Pankaj Sekhsaria

IN its very name is embedded the importance and relevance this animal has in the Hindu pantheon — the Hanuman Langur, also known simply as the Common Langur. This medium-sized grey-silver animal is one of the commonest “wild” creatures seen across the country.

Unknown to most who revere the animal as a living embodiment of the great god Hanuman, the Langur is undergoing a significant scientific makeover. If scientists and field biologists are to be believed (and there is no reason not to), the Hanuman Langur is not so common after all, precisely because it is not the same species or subspecies of langur that you see everywhere. The Hanuman Langur in Kishtwar National Park in Jammu & Kashmir, for instance, is quite different from the one you see in the forests of Kerala’s Kannur district. While the former is called the Himalayan Grey Langur (Semnopithecus entellus ajax) the latter is the Dark-Legged Malabar Langur (Semnopithecus entellus hypoleucos). If you feel that this is not surprising considering the huge distances involved, there is evidence to indicate that the langurs are different even within a much closer range. The Himalayan Grey Langur of Kishtwar is different from what is known as the Central Himalayan Langur (Semnopithecus entellus schistaceus) that you might see in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh or even in the Kargil district of J&K. Similarly, while the Dark-Legged Malabar Langur is found from Kerala in the south to as far north as Pune in Maharashtra; go just a little north towards Nashik or northwest towards Ahmednagar and what you will see is Deccan Hanuman Langur (Semnopithecus entellus anchises).

The bottomline? They are different.

Latest research

The August 2004 issue Zoo’s Print Journal published by the Coimbatore-based Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) carries one of the latest and most significant papers in this matter by the United Kingdom-based primatologist, Douglas Brandon Jones who has divided the Hanuman Langur into seven distinct subspecies. The paper itself was the outcome of the Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) workshop for South Asian primates held in Coimbatore in August 2002. Nearly 50 participants including field biologists, taxonomists, and zoo personnel from all over South Asia participated in the exercise that was held to assess the conservation status of the South Asian primates.

The general knowledge (rather, its lack) regarding the differences in the Hanuman Langur was evident even as the workshop began. Most participants in the workshop were themselves unaware that various experts in the past had described different subspecies of the Hanuman Langur, and that some had even suggested they were different species.

Says Dr. P.O. Nameer, Assistant Professor in the Thrissur-based Kerala Agricultural University, and a participant in the workshop: “We actually have three species of Hanuman Langurs in Kerala itself. I have seen and photographed different langurs in the Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS), in the Wayanad WLS and also in the Chinnar WLS, and I could not believe my eyes. They are distinctively different both in the morphology as well as in their habits and habitat.”

And so we go to the fundamental question: what is it that makes the langurs differ from each other? The Dark-Legged Hanuman Langur, for instance, is a crestless, black-pawed yellowish-white subspecies with a dark grey backward-looped tail. The Deccan Hanuman Langur (found just north and northwest) is, in comparison, a pale-pawed, bright orange subspecies with barely any brown suffusion. The tail in this case loops forward.

In some cases, the differences might be even slimmer like in the two subspecies found in the Himalayas. The Himalayan Grey Langur (found only in Nepal and India) is a crestless, yellowish-white subspecies, suffused with brown on the back and limbs. The colour on the hand and the forearm is darker. The description of the adjoining Central Himalayan Langur that is spread across the Himalayan belt (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan) is identical except for the fact that the paws in its case are much paler in colour.

Debate and differences

While the whole thing might be a little confusing, the bottom line remains the same — there is a difference. In fact, a significant outcome of this whole differentiation and classification is that the Himalayan Grey Langur is now considered critically endangered as per the norms of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The total population of the animal is said to be only a little over 500 individuals with mature adults being about half that number.

This overall classification of the langurs also continues to be a subject of scientific debate and differences: Why is one different from the other? What is the basis to separate one from the other? While there might be differences of opinion on the exact nature of the differences, there is broad based unanimity that the langurs that we see in different parts of the subcontinent are indeed, significantly different from each other.

“I believe,” says Dr. K. Praveen Karanth of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale, the US, “that a combination of morphological, behavioural, ecological and geographical data in conjunction with genetic data should be used to assign species status. Nevertheless,” he continues, ” one thing is clear, the so-called Hanuman langurs exhibit a lot of morphological variation, the most apparent of them all is the way populations in North and South India populations carry their tails.” He also points out that the dividing line for the two distinct Indian populations can broadly be traced along the Tapti-Godavari river system in peninsular India.

So while the great scientific makeover of the Common Hanuman Langur is still being discussed and debated, the twist, rather the loop, in the tail is rather evident.

Next time when you are out in the wild then, do justice to the Hanuman Langur. Try and note where exactly you are seeing the animal, what is the colour of the back, of its paws, does it have a crest? And yes, certainly look for the loop in its tail. Does it bend forward towards the animal’s head, or does it loop away? It will be a Hanuman Langur, all right — but it might not be such a common one after all!

Hindu On Net