François’ monkeys are Old World monkeys, a term describing monkeys from Africa and Asia. The main fur colour is black with white stripes running around their cheeks. They have a tuft of hair on the top of their heads and a prominent brow. Baby François’ langurs are born with orange fur.
François’ langurs live in groups of 4-27 with 12 individuals being an average size consisting of one male, several adult females and their offspring. The group is led by the adult females, who have a fluid hierarchy. They use a variety of communication methods including vocal and tactile. This includes daily grooming sessions.
All females share caring responsibilities for infants, a practice called allomothering. Youngsters are sexually mature at three to four years and will leave to join another group at this time. However, they will not be fully grown until six or seven years old.
The majority of the François’ langurs diet is leaves. They have two stomach compartments to aid digestion of a high fibrous diet. The first stomach contains bacteria which help break down the leaves before entering the second stomach. They also eat other fruit and insects.
The main threats include hunting, mainly for use in producing traditional medicines (such as ‘black ape wine’) and habitat loss as farming and human settlements expand. While these threats continue there are sections of their habitat protected as national parks in both Vietnam and China.
