Vol. 60, 2021
(update: 2021.08.18; 11.16)
Dietary Habits of Free-ranging
Banded Langur (Presbytis femoralis)
in a Secondary-human Modified Forest in Johor, Malaysia
Mohd
Faudzir Najmuddin1,2 ,
Hidayah Haris1,2 ,
Noratiqah Norazlimi2 ,
Farhani Ruslin3 ,
Ikki Matsuda4,5,6,7 ,
Badrul Munir Md-Zain3 ,
and Muhammad Abu Bakar Abdul-Latiff1,2,*
doi:10.6620/ZS.2021.60-67
1Oasis
Integrated Group (OIG), Institute for Integrated Engineering (I2E),
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Parit Raja 86400, Johor.
*Correspondence: E-mail: latiff@uthm.edu.my (Abdul-Latiff).
E-mail: najmuddin1107@gmail.com (Najmuddin); hidyharis@gmail.com (Haris)
2Faculty
of Applied Sciences and Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
(Pagoh Campus), Muar 84600, Johor, Malaysia, Johor. E-mail:
atiqah@uthm.edu.my (Norazlimi)
3Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology,
Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. E-mail: fahanih20@yahoo.com (Ruslin);
abgbadd1966@yahoo.com (Md-Zain)
4Chubu University Academy of Emerging Sciences, 1200,
Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai-shi, Aichi 487-8501, Japan. E-mail:
ikki-matsuda@isc.chubu.ac.jp (Matsuda)
5Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University, Japan.
6Japan Monkey Centre, Japan.
7Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation,
Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sabah, Malaysia.
Received 16 March 2021 / Accepted 9
August 2021
Communicated by Benny K.K. Chan
Banded langurs, Presbytis femoralis, are
distributed in southern Peninsular Malaysia, i.e., Johor and its borders
including Singapore. It has been estimated that there are only < 250
mature individuals of P. femoralis
in Malaysia and Singapore, and the species is currently considered
Critically Endangered. The dietary information of P. femoralis and even other closely
related species has rarely been reported. This study, therefore, aimed
to describe the species dietary habits and discuss interaction between
their feeding behaviour and its surrounding. This study was conducted
from February to November 2018, with 15 sampling days each month. We
collected a total of 186 sighting hours, using a scan sampling method
with 10-min intervals, on a five-langur focal group. We identified 29
species based on 47 items consumed by the banded langur, mostly young
leaves (51%) followed by fruits (45%), and flowers (3.8%). The study
group spent slightly more time consuming non-cultivated plants but
relied on cultivated plants for the fruits. Over 75% of fruit feeding
involved consuming cultivar plants; in most cases (73%), they ate only
the pulp, not the seeds. Since the cultivated plants were planted in
human settlement, there is an urgent need to implement conservation
measures to untangle the human-langur conflicts—for instance,
reforestation of a buffer region using non-cultivated plants. There is
a potential to build upon our new findings with more detailed
investigations, such as more extensive ecological factors influencing
the dietary adaptation which would be necessary to support conservation
efforts and management decisions of this species.
Key words: Primate, Pest,
Cultivated plant, Human-primate conflict, Feeding ecology.
Citation:
Najmuddin MF, Haris H, Norazlimi N, Ruslin F, Matsuda I, Md-Zain BM,
Abdul-Latiff MAB. 2021. Dietary habits of free-ranging banded langur (Presbytis femoralis) in a
secondary-human modified forest in Johor, Malaysia. Zool Stud 60:67. doi:10.6620/ZS.2021.60-67.

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