To some, he looks like Santa Claus. Others compare it to a colorful stuffed animal. The red-shanked douc is one of the most outlandish primates on earth. Hard to believe that most people have never heard of him.
The glorious creature is a long time coming. Although it comes in many colors, it knows how to hide well in the dense jungle of the Son Tra Peninsula on the coast of central Vietnam. But then the animal reveals itself: The long white tail dangles from a branch and peeks out betrayingly from between the foliage. Then red-brown legs come into the picture, light-colored arms, black hands and an orange-colored face with a white beard. Finally, it shows itself in all its glory: the red-shanked douc, one of the rarest and most beautiful primates on earth. In English, its name sounds somehow more attractive: “Red-shanked Douc Langur”, or “Douc” for the experts in Vietnam. The people of Son Tra simply call him “special monkey”. That fits, because what could be more special than this monkey?
According to estimates, only about 2,000 specimens still inhabit the planet, says zoologist Anthony Barker. Most of them live on the Son Tra peninsula near the city of Da Nang and in neighboring Laos, says the 28-year-old Briton. He takes care of the protection of the animals in the rainforest around the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort. Four families romp through the wilderness around the hotel, an estimated 60 to 70 specimens in total. They share the paradisiacal habitat with macaques, colorful sunbirds, red-bellied squirrels, poisonous snakes and huge butterflies.
Using binoculars, Barker scans the animals’ favorite spots. Sometimes not a single specimen can be found for days, then again groups show up for several days at a time very close to the hotel room. They are neither shy nor aggressive, but rather indifferent to people. There’s something profound about their gaze, as if they know a secret they don’t want to share.
Some guests get very emotional at the sight. “Some start crying when they first see a ‘Douc,'” says Barker. “No wonder, because the animals are absolutely unusual and beautiful,” enthuses the expert. He compares her to a “wise Santa Claus”. At the same time, they looked almost feminine with their green-blue eyelids. The red-shanked douc is therefore also called “make-up monkey”. “Most visitors here find it hard to believe they’ve never heard of the animals before.”
The primate cannot be tamed. Most of those who have tried have failed miserably. This also has something to do with the diet: the red-shanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus) lives exclusively in trees and mainly eats leaves. The nature reserve in Son Tra, with its numerous catappa and fig trees, is the ideal habitat – unlike a zoo. If you lock the animal in a cage, it often loses color. “It’s probably like people who turn pale when they’re not feeling well,” says Barker.
Barker has “monkey bridges” built over the resort’s paths so that the animals can easily move to another piece of forest at a higher altitude. The monkeys are fast and skilled climbers. It is particularly impressive when they swing back and forth on a branch with their bright red legs and then jump in full length into another tree.
As is so often the case, the greatest threat to primates is humans. Barker regularly searches the forest surrounding the resort. “So far we’ve found two poachers’ traps,” he says. The animals are hunted primarily for their meat as food and their brains as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine. In Vietnam, some believed that eating the monkeys while they were alive gave them special powers, Barker says. “A hunter streamed live on the internet a few years ago eating one of the animals alive,” he recalls. However, the Vietnamese government is now taking tough penalties to better protect endangered animals.
The number of douc monkeys has been declining for decades due to the loss of their natural habitat. The populations were already decimated by bombing and the use of defoliants during the Vietnam War. And as unbelievable as it seems, at a military base in Son Tra, the army used to use the primates as targets for target practice.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the “Red-shanked Douc Langur” as “Critically Endangered” on its Red List. In the last three generations (36 years), the number of animals has probably decreased by 80 percent. “And the decline is expected to continue at a similar (or even slightly faster) rate for the next 36 years,” the organization warns.
In Son Tra, at least for the moment, the world seems fine for the monkey families. The little ones play happily in the branches while the parents enjoy the sunny afternoon chewing leaves. There have even been two rare twin births here. “When I see a copy, I still drop everything,” says marketing manager John Hamilton. The Canadian has been living in Son Tra for 18 months and the “doucs” love to romp around his house. “They are really remarkable creatures,” he says.
