Thai Gibbon Sanctuary Update Monkey Rescues in Portugal Protecting
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
NewsISSN-1040-3027, Vol. 36, No. 1 May 2009 IInside:nside: Photo © Terry Whittaker Photo © Terry TThaihai ggibbonibbon ssanctuaryanctuary uupdatepdate MMonkeyonkey rrescuesescues iinn PPortugalortugal PProtectingrotecting BBudongo’sudongo’s cchimpshimps Rare Delacour’s langurs in Vietnam clamber about the limestone cliffs that are their home. A Letter from IPPL’s Executive Director Shirley McGreal and IPPL-UK’s Director Helen Thirlway Dear IPPL Supporter, We hope all of you are enjoying lovely spring weather. The fi rst hummingbirds are back here at IPPL’s South Carolina Headquarters Sanctuary, and our 32 gibbon friends are enjoying sunbathing. This April, the sanctuary staff and I enjoyed a visit from Helen Thirlway, Director of IPPL-UK, and her partner Keri Cairns. Helen says: It is a beautiful time of year to visit Summerville; there are azaleas in bloom everywhere, and the sanctuary grounds are teeming with wildlife. After a year in my post, it has been a pleasure to return to Headquarters and reacquaint myself with all of the team here, including, of course, the gibbons! I have been particularly enjoying the company of Tong, one of the oldest primates here, with whom I’ve shared many grooming sessions in the peaceful sanctuary surroundings. Although it is hard to believe, considering her friendly and trusting nature, Tong was once a pet who was abandoned when her owner left Thailand. After several changes of hands, she reached IPPL. Above, I also met another especially gentle Helen (left) gibbon named Whoop-Whoop, who was and Shirley formerly a lab gibbon in Louisiana. enjoy some Spending more time with this mild- Carolina sunshine. mannered character reinforced my commitment to the phasing-out of Left, Tong primate testing—something we are treats Helen to some old- working on in the UK at the moment fashioned prior to a European Parliamentary Southern debate in May. hospitality, It has also been a pleasure to gibbon-style. hear the latest news on the amazing grassroots sanctuaries that we support overseas, and which you can read about in this newsletter, including sanctuaries in Mexico, Thailand, and Indonesia, to name a few. If you are feeling overwhelmed by reports of the economic recession, the effects of climate change, and other doom-and-gloom news, it is a wonderful tonic to read about all the dedicated people working on the frontlines to protect and conserve our primate friends and their native habitat. We need only look at these projects to be reassured that there is hope. Helen and I send you our best wishes for a happy springtime. Shirley McGreal Helen Thirlway ———————————————————————IPPL NEWS www.ippl.org ————————————————— May 2009 2 Nguyen Vinh Thanh, Ph.D., zoologist at Vietnam National University, Hanoi An animal lover since childhood, I always had a particular fondness for primates, who seemed rather like mischievous children to me. I later came to realize that many species of primate are under threat due to human encroachment and other activities. Sadly, it is very difficult to persuade people that it is worth sacrifi cing economic benefi t to save wildlife, and this convinced me that I needed to fi nd my own way of helping to protect these amazing creatures. Photo © Terry Whittaker Photo © Terry ———————————————————————IPPL NEWS www.ippl.org ————————————————— May 2009 3 My fi rst glimpse of a Delacour’s langur was in August The “white shorts” monkeys 2002 when I took part in my professor’s project in the Van The fi rst impression one gets of a mature Delacour’s langur Long Nature Reserve, about 90 kilometers (50 miles) south (Trachypithecus delacouri) is that this long-tailed monkey is of Hanoi, in Vietnam. Together, we spent four days with a wearing a pair of spotless white shorts. There are several spotting scope waiting for the langurs to appear, but with black-and-white species of langurs, including Delacour’s, no luck. Of course, now I understand that langurs do not that live on the karst (limestone) cliffs and in the adjacent like to be out in the full summer sun, so they are usually forests of northern Vietnam and Laos and southern China. most active in the early morning and late afternoon; we were They have been dubbed “limestone langurs” to distinguish simply looking for them at the wrong time of day. However, them from the gray species found in lowland forests. The it took us a while to realize this, and it wasn’t until the golden-headed langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus), from fourth day, when it was rainy and overcast, that we fi nally Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay, and the white-headed langur enjoyed our fi rst sight of three langurs. That evening, a (Trachypithecus leucocephalus), from far southeastern China, local man told us he would often see the langurs just before who are the two closest relatives of the Delacour’s langur, also heavy rains, so, the next day, we started the survey in the have white markings on the thighs, but not nearly to the same afternoon before the rain started. Not only did we get to see remarkable extent. the animals, but Professor Ha Dinh Duc managed to record Delacour’s langurs eat leaves, fruit, fl owers, and seeds, a 20-minute video of them. with young leaves forming the major part of their diet. Reluctantly, I fi nished my training and left the reserve, Consequently, with a large amount of fi ber and cellulose to but, from then on, I was determined to see these primates be digested, these monkeys spend much of their time just again. Three years later, I was delighted to return to Van resting to allow their bodies to process this food. They are Long to conduct a two-year project on the behavior and known for preferring to sleep in the many natural caves ecology of Delacour’s langur for my Ph.D. program at that are found in the enormous limestone outcroppings Vietnam National University, Hanoi. that are characteristic of their habitat. They live primarily in groups of around eight or nine individuals with just one adult male, who carefully protects the females and their orange-colored infants from unknown males and potential predators. Occasionally, all-male or multiple-male and female groups are reported, although the latter tend to be unstable and will sooner or later divide into the more typical one-male-units. Among a group of black-and-white adult Delacour’s langurs, an orange baby peeks from momma’s lap. Photos © Terry Whittaker Photos © Terry ———————————————————————IPPL NEWS www.ippl.org ————————————————— May 2009 4 There are fewer than 400 Delacour’s langurs left in Vietnam. Photo © Terry Whittaker Photo © Terry Threats to an endangered species and quarrying. The presence of Delacour’s 1. Protecting the Delacour’s langur The Delacour’s langur is listed in the langurs is confi rmed in only fi ve provinces populations in Cuc Phuong National Vietnam Red Data Book as endangered, of North Vietnam and North Central Park and Pu Luong Nature Reserve as its total estimated population is 317 Vietnam, while its existence elsewhere is from hunting. It is necessary to survey individuals. Now the species is strictly uncertain. These remaining fragmented the distribution of the animals in Pu protected by a Vietnam Government Decree populations are in grave danger of Luong Nature Reserve to accurately (32/2006/ND-CP, Decree 82/2006/ND-CP) inbreeding and eventual extinction. delimit a strict protection area. and related legislation. Although this According to our latest surveys, the 2. Maintaining and improving the animals’ means that all activities involving hunting, largest population, that in Van Long conservation status in the Van Long keeping, trading, and exporting the species Nature Reserve, has at least 55 individuals. Nature Reserve. We should ask the are offi cially banned, the low standards of However, since April 2006, there has been Vietnam government to put a halt to living, poor awareness of the laws by local a lot of local quarrying for the cement all quarrying activities for any purpose people and local authorities, and the vested factories near the borders of Van Long. in the limestone hills surrounding Van interests of traders have forced the langur The langurs’ daily activities have been Long, so that the langur population can to the brink of extinction. disturbed by the explosions from the mining expand into new habitat in the future. In the 1980s and 1990s, hunting operations, which have also destroyed all of Villagers living inside the Van Long pressure was the most signifi cant risk to the limestone hills surrounding the Reserve, Nature Reserve should be encouraged these primates. People use the langur’s isolating the langurs even further. and financially supported to move, whole body to cook a traditional medicine which will help in reconnecting isolated called “cao,” and a langur can sell at What do these langurs need to limestone hills inside the reserve. around 160,000 Vietnam dongs per survive? 3. Protecting the small sub-populations kilogram (a little over US$4 per pound). The animals need suitable food, clean scattered in other places. Scientists In more recent years, habitat loss has water, safe sleeping sites, undamaged and conservation organizations gradually become an even greater danger. habitat for raising their offspring, and should propose a plan of “ex-situ” The small populations left by the hunters room for those offspring to form new conservation—including possible are becoming isolated from each other families. For this reason, our conservation captive breeding in a zoo or sanctuary— through deforestation for agricultural use efforts should be focused on: but only if absolutely necessary. The Van Long Nature Reserve: The “Total Vietnam Experience” Dr.