Silvery Langur (Trachypithecus cristatus)
Image Copyright Suthanai Krupanich
Last Observed: Koh Chang, January 2016
Observed By: Suthanai Krupanich
The silvery langur is an arboreal (tree dwelling) primate native to Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Bornea (according to Wikipedia), and Koh Chang (as this photo shows).
It is also known as the silvery lutung or the silvered leaf monkey.
It’s coat is dark brown or black with distinctive silvery grey tips. It is a herbivore and has a unique three-chambered stomach that allows it to digest the cellulose in its diet in a similar way to the four chambered stomach of cows. In fact pretty much all it eats is leaves and it has specialised to inhabit the middle canopy of forests, leaving the upper layers to fruit eating primates.
The silvery langur is not yet endangered but you will be very lucky to spot one on Koh Chang. Unlike it’s enterprising cousin the crab-eating macaque it stays deep in the protection of the jungle.
