Vietnam Primate Conservation Status Review 2002 - Hoang Lien ...

3.1 FRANCOIS’ LANGUR - Trachypithecus francoisi
From July to September 1994, a survey was carried out by Frontier (Kemp et al., 1994). Local hunters
and park staff reported the occurrence of Francois’ langurs in Puong Grotto. A second Frontier
survey took place from October to December 1996 (Hill et al, 1996a). One group of 4 to 5 animals was
seen by the team near Nam Giai Village (west of the park) on two occasions in primary and disturbed
forest at 750m a.s.l. The sighting of this species so close to the H’mong village of Nam Giai was seen
by the authors as an encouraging sign.
In April 1999, Nong The Dien (pers. comm. 2000), Vice-director of the National Park, saw 6 animals
on the west side of the southern lake. According to Nong The Dien (pers.comm. 2000) Francois’
langur groups are still living behind Pac Ngoi Village, on the West side of the southern lake, along the
Nang River, close to Dau Dang village and in Dong Puong area.
During the primate survey conducted by FFI in January 2000 in Bac Kan Province (Phung Van Khoa
& Lormée, 2000), Francois’ langurs were reported by local informants of Bang Phuc Commune, Cho
Don District. Three interviewees claimed that they occurred on the boundary of their commune and
Hoang Tri Commune (southwest of the proposed extension of the park)
North of Ra Ban Commune, Cho Don District (BAC KAN)
Special use forest: None
Francois’ langur status: Provisional occurence, last report in 1989 (interview), (Ratajszczak et al.,1990)
The locality is reported by Ratajszczak et al. (1990) based on interviews during a primate survey
conducted in north Vietnam in 1989. It was said to be very uncommon but could be still encountered
on cliffs in the hills north of the commune, where the vegetation has not been exploited for fuel wood.
The commune was not visited during the FFI survey in Cho Don District in January 2000 (Phung Van
Khoa & Lormée, 2000). Three local villagers from Ra Ban, however, were interviewed but no data
could be provided to support the current occurrence of T. francoisi in Ra Ban Commune.
Kim Hy Nature Reserve (BAC KAN)
Special use forest: Nature reserve
Francois’ langur status: Occurrence confirmed, last evidence in 2000 (Ngo Van Tri & Lormée, 2000)
In March 1998, Geissmann & Vu Ngoc Thanh (2000) obtained several reports of Francois’ langurs in
the Kim Hy forest from locals. Based on interviews they reported that a group of 17 individuals was
caught by hunters in their sleeping cave on the slopes surrounding camp 2 (22 O 11’N / 106 O 00’E) in
1997. Informants suggested that some animals were still living in the area because two animals had
been caught since. This occurrence was confirmed when vocalisations were heard in the area. According
to Geissmann & Vu Ngoc Thanh (2000) Francois’ langurs are rare in this area. In November 1999,
BirdLife and FIPI conducted a brief survey in Kim Hy Commune (Tordoff et al., 2000b). Local informants
(in three interviews) reported that langurs were fairly common. The last first-hand sighting was
August-September 1998.
FFI carried out an initial short field survey of 10 days in January 2000 followed by three weeks of field
work in this area during March 2000. Every village surrounding the forest was visited and a
representative number of interviews with hunters were conducted in each. However, due to bad
weather conditions, only a total of eight days was spent on surveys inside the limestone forest.
Limited time was spent in Kim Hy Commune, because, according to informants, wildlife has been
pushed south as a result of the disturbance caused by gold mining activities and intensive hunting.
All the local informants recognized the Francois’ langur (twelve hunters were interviewed). A former
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