New Aspinall Langurs Bring Joy to the Park
Everybody at the Aspinall Foundation’s Howletts Park were over the moon at the arrival of two new additions to their dusky langur clan. These beautiful babies begin their lives with bright orange fur, but gradually as they get older they turn to a dusky grey the same as their parents.
It’s really easy to spot them in their new homes, they look like a couple of little Ed Sheeran’s clinging to their proud parents, and are becoming something of a talking point for the visitors to the park near Canterbury. These cute little primates are also nicknamed the ‘spectacled langur’, because if you at the picture on the right, you can see they have circular markings around their eyes.
Interestingly though, the last thing these cheeky chappies need is glasses, as they have some of the best eyesight in the primate kingdom. Not that they would ever need to look to far to find their bright orange bundles of fun if they were to stray too far away. Very easy to spot!
Head Primate Keeper, Matt Ford, said –
As with all species of langur the infants are born this lovely apricot colour. Our new male and female will gradually change colour as they grow older, until they reach the grey and white colouring of their parents at around 6 months old. Dusky langurs are threatened in their wild home of Malaysia, southern Burma and southwest Thailand, due to hunting for their meat and loss of habitat. Massive increase in oil plantations, fuelled by western demand has decimated natural forest environments throughout these regions. There are only a handful of collections that hold this species and Howletts is proud to be the most successful captive breeders of these striking looking monkeys.
Amazing little creatures aren’t they? Aspinall Foundation work across the globe to help animals that require human assistance to survive in the world. With so many beautiful animals under threat of endangerment, it’s thanks to charities such as Aspinall that many of the Earth’s most vulnerable creatures are given a fighting chance.