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For a small village near the Sinharaja Forest Reserve in Sri Lanka, “snow-white monkeys” have become a major tourist attraction, reports contributor Malaka Rodrigo for Mongabay.
These white monkeys are a color variant of the endangered purple-faced langur ( Semnopithecus vetulus ), also known as the purple-faced leaf monkey, found only in Sri Lanka.
Purple-faced langurs typically have black coats and purplish-black faces with white sideburns, but some individuals around the village of Lankagama near the Sinharaja forest have completely or partially white coats.
The white color is a case of leucism rather than albinism, Rodrigo reports. In albino animals, a mutation in a gene prevents the individual from producing melanin, a pigment that mainly produces brown and black colors. Albinism doesn’t affect other pigments like carotenoids (or red-orange pigments). Leucism, on the other hand, involves a partial loss of all pigments.
There are four subspecies of purple-faced langur in Sri Lanka: southern ( S. v. vetulus ) northern ( S. v. philbricki ), western ( S. v. nestor ) and mountain ( S. v. monticola ). White langurs have mostly been reported from populations of the southern subspecies, Madura de Silva, president of the NGO Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle (WCSG), told Rodrigo.
The presence of white monkeys in the Sinharaja forest isn’t new knowledge. Reports about them go back centuries: local folklore talks about ghostly white monkeys in the forest, considered omens of both good and ill fortune, and community elders recount sightings of pale-colored langurs, Rodrigo writes.
In a 2011 survey, WCSG formally documented 30 such “snow-white monkeys” in Sinharaja among the 14 troops it observed.
The village of Lankagama is benefiting from the growing awareness of leucistic monkeys living around it, Rodrigo reports. Many tourists are now choosing to enter the Sinharaja reserve through Lankagama to see the white monkeys, instead of the main point of entry, another village named Kudawa.
White animals worldwide, from Africa’s white lions to Canada’s spirit bears , have been major tourist draws. Sri Lanka’s white monkeys could hold similar tourism potential, De Silva said.
A positive perception toward Sri Lanka’s white monkeys is especially relevant at a time when monkeys are increasingly being seen as nuisance animals in the country, Rodrigo writes.
Sri Lanka is home to three species of monkeys: the endemic toque macaque ( Macaca sinica ), gray langur ( Semnopithecus priam ) and purple-faced langur. A recent nationwide survey found that monkeys, especially toque macaques , have emerged as top crop-raiders.
In addition to white purple-faced langurs, naturalists and researchers in Sri Lanka have reported albino individuals of toque macaques and gray langurs as well.
This is a summary of “ In a land where monkeys are seen as pests, Sri Lanka’s white langurs are winning hearts ” by Malaka Rodrigo for Mongabay.
Banner image of a white purple-faced langur by Gaurika Wijeratne via Flickr ( CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 ).
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