Economically poor region that is the North-East is biologically very rich. That is because of the one-horned rhino of Kaziranga, the tiger and buffalo of Manas, the dear of Manipur and the golden langur of Brahmaputra valley.

Golden langur (Trachypithecus gees) named after naturalist E. P. Gee, who discovered it way back in 1955 is the rarest of the six different species of langurs found in India. Golden langur which is found in an area of about 2100 sq. km, bordered by river Sankosh in the west, Manas River in the east and Brahmaputra in the south, is a species which exist only in this particular location around the globe.

Sonali Bandar in Assamese and Makhre Gafur in Bodo is one from the long list of endemic species found in North-East India. Among the entire golden langur population which is estimated to be about 4500 from a survey in the year 1998-99 by Biswas and Co. workers 90 per cent is found in the forest bordering India and Bhutan and the rest 10 per cent is found in isolated small hillocks of Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Kokrajhar districts.

Right from the time of E. P. Gee’s first encounter with the fascinating ‘cream-coloured langur’, a number of surveys have taken place and each survey shows the decline in the number of golden langur. The main reason behind the extinction of the golden langur is the rapid shrinkage of its natural habitat. Because of growth of population and men’s ever increasing need, greenery is history and thus the scarcity of food plants for the golden langur is increasing. There are other reasons too which leads to the rapid death of golden langurs. High voltage live wire passing through the once dense forest is one such cause. Langurs are also killed by village dogs. When jumping from one canopy to another they fall in to the ground and become prey of the hungry omnivorous. Because of many avoidable reasons of the tragic end of this beautiful mammal their population, which is still surviving fighting with all odds is becoming isolated. The golden langur’s habitats are now small patches of isolated forest where the chance of interbreeding between groups is steadily declining and thus adding to the chance of extinction.

Golden langur is a leaf eating canopy dweller which mostly lives in small groups of about 10 to 20 individuals and the female have a gestation period of 180 days after which it gives birth to a single offspring after an interval of approximately one and a half year.

Our neighbouring kingdom Bhutan is doing a lot to conserve its substantial share of golden langur. They have dedicated number of protected areas for monkeys such as Royal Manas National Park, Black Mountain National Park, Trumsin Golden Leaf Monkey Wildlife Sanctuary where as India dedicated Manas Tiger Reserve and Chakrashilla Wildlife Sanctuary as the protected places for safe and secure living of the primates. Among these two Manas was declared as world heritage site in danger in 1992 by UNESCO. Regularly we come across news of heard of elephants attacking human habitats and killing men, destroying crops, turning house in to debris. But the question which needs consideration is that   are the animals invading human habitat or we invaded their habitat? There are lots to be done to protect the golden langurs.

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