Tarai Grey Langur is distributed from north India eastwards to Nepal and Bhutan along the Himalayan foothills. It occurs in the Shivalik ranges in Uttarakhand from an elevation of 150m to 1600m and is found in the moist deciduous and moist semi-deciduous forests to the coniferous and oak forests. The species is listed as ‘near threatened’ in the ‘IUCN Red Data List’ and is believed to be declining in numbers. It is a diurnal, arboreal and terrestrial primate, primarily feeding on leaves, fruit and occasionally takes bark off some trees. They live for around 20 years in the wild. The species is social and lives in troops, controlled by alpha males that defend feeding territories against other troops.
Due to vast loss to their forest habitat during the 20th century, a large number of Langurs have adapted to surviving by raiding crops and orchards, where they come in conflict with humans.
In Corbett Tiger Reserve, Tarai Grey Langur forms part of the prey base of the tiger. They are always on the lookout for a predator and at the slightest hint of a tiger being in the vicinity, raise an alarm to warn the jungle folk of the presence of the danger. Their alarm calls are considered to be highly reliable when it comes to tracking tigers on a jungle safari.
Tarai Grey Langur
