Population dynamics and conservation status of the white-headed langur in the Chongzuo forest fragments, Guangxi, China
HUA XIN G TANG,HENG L IAN HUA N G,ZEN XIN G WANG,J IAN BAO WU AI LONG WAN G,DEN G PAN NONG,PAUL A. GAR BER QI HAI ZHOU and CHENG MIN G HUANG
Abstract We present the results of two population sur- veys conducted 10 years apart (December 2010–February 2011 and December 2020–January 2021) of the Critically Endangered white-headed langur Trachypithecus leucoce- phalus in the Chongzuo White-Headed Langur National Nature Reserve, Guangxi Province, China. In the first survey, we recorded 818 individuals in 105 groups and 16 solitary adult males. In the second survey, we recorded 1,183 individuals in 128 groups and one solitary adult male. As a result of government policies, poaching for food and traditional medicine is no longer a primary threat to these langurs. However, severe forest loss and fragmentation caused by human activities could limit any future increase of this langur population.
Keywords China, conservation status, Critically Endangered, Guangxi, forest fragment, population dynamics, Trachypithecus leucocephalus,white-headedlangur
a 200 km2 area of limestone hills in southern Guangxi Province (Zhou & Huang, 2021) and is categorized as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (Bleisch & Long, 2020). This species is one of a group of seven allopat- ric species of Endangered and Critically Endangered langurs
T HUA XING TANG*, QI HAI ZHOU (Corresponding author,
orcid.org/0000-
0002-2832-5005,
zhouqh@mailbox.gxnu.edu.cn)and CHENG MING HUANG† (Corresponding author,
orcid.org/0000-0002-2559-4090, cmhuang@ioz.
ac.cn) Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection, Ministry of Education, Guangxi Normal University, 1# Yanshan Zhong Road, Guiling, Guangxi 541006, China
HENG LIAN HUANG,ZEN XING WANG,JIAN BAO WU,AI LONG WANG and DENG PAN NONG Chongzuo White-Headed Langur National Nature Reserve, Chongzuo, China
PAUL A. GARBER‡ Department of Anthropology and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA
*Also at: Chongzuo White-Headed Langur National Nature Reserve, Chongzuo, China †Also at: Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China ‡Also at: International Centre of Biodiversity and Primate Conservation, Dali University, Dali, China
Received 27 August 2022. Revision requested 17 November 2022. Accepted 6 January 2023. First published online 14 June 2023.
he white-headed langur Trachypithecus leucocephalus, a primate species endemic to China, is restricted to
that inhabit limestone forests characterized by highly por- ous and soluble rock and karst formations that contain steep cliffs, fissures, sink holes and caves (Zhou & Huang, 2021). White-headed langurs are reported to have experi- enced population declines over the past 35 years (Bleisch &Long, 2020). In 1999, the total remaining population was estimated to be c. 600 individuals (Huang et al., 2002). White-headed langurs now only occur in the Chongzuo White-Headed Langur National Nature Reserve and Nonggang National Nature Reserve, 100 km to the west, with 94% of the population in the former, and only 6% in the latter (Zhou & Huang, 2021). The White-Headed Langur National Nature Reserve is in south-west Guangxi Province. This Reserve comprises four areas: Bapen (4,370 ha), Banli (2,830 ha), Daling (1,771 ha) and Tuozhu (16,608 ha; Fig. 1). The Reserve is fragmented by sugarcane plantations, roads and settlements. We con- ducted an initial population census of white-headed lan- gurs during December 2010–February 2011. Ten years later, we conducted a second census during December 2020– January 2021. Both census teams were composed of 20 ob- server groups. Based on our long-term observation of white- headed langurs, we conducted censuses during 6.30–10.00 and 15.00–18.30. To census the langur population, we used a route census
and a partition-spot survey as outlined in Li & Rogers (2007). Because the limestone hills are fragmented by plantations and roads, we divided the Reserve into seven unequal-sized survey areas and assigned particular survey areas to individual survey groups. We used available paths as route lines. We surveyed neighbouring clusters of lime- stone hills on the same day to avoid repeated counts of the same langur group moving across neighbouring areas. We walked a total of 138 routes of 1.5–2.0 km in length in 2010/2011. We re-surveyed the same routes in 2020/2021 using the same methodology. These survey routes covered all potential areas of langur distribution in the Reserve. When we detected a langur group, we collected data on group size and recorded the location of the group on a 1:10,000 topographical map. The numbers of groups and individuals we report should be considered indices of population size rather than a true population size. In the 2010/2011 survey we recorded a total of 818 indivi- duals in 105 groups and 16 solitary adult males. Mean group
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Oryx, 2024, 58(2), 179–182 © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605323000029
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
