Red-shanked douc

The five-coloured monkey

The red-shanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus) is an Old World monkey of the Colobinae subfamily, regarded as one of the most colourful primates on the planet. It has a golden face framed in white, lower legs of a bright brick red — hence its name — white forearms, a mottled grey back and a long white tail. This dazzling combination earned it the Vietnamese nickname of "five-coloured monkey" or "costumed monkey". It shows sexual dimorphism, with males larger than females.

Habitat and range

It is endemic to mainland Southeast Asia: Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. It lives in forests from lowlands to mountains and is almost entirely arboreal, spending most of its life in the canopy, moving with agile leaps from branch to branch.

Behaviour and diet

It is diurnal and mainly folivorous: it feeds mostly on leaves, but also on unripe fruit, seeds and flowers. Like other colobines it has a complex, chambered stomach that lets it digest the cellulose in leaves. It lives in social groups and communicates through calls, facial expressions and postures.

Did you know?

It belongs to the genus Pygathrix, which includes two related species — the black-shanked and grey-shanked doucs — once regarded as subspecies. Its extraordinary colouring has made it a symbol of the biodiversity of Indochinese forests.

Conservation

The IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered. The main threats are hunting, habitat loss from deforestation and capture for the illegal pet trade. Protection and captive-breeding programmes are under way.