Saving the tricolour langur

Fighting to survive: The critically endangered tricolour langur has been recorded in a new habitat in Jemoreng, Sarawak.

KUCHING: Sarawak will gazette a newly discovered habitat of the critically endangered tricolour langur as a protected forest, says Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.

He said the primate was sighted during a recent scientific expedition at Sungai Selah Inah in Jemoreng.

“The discovery was published on March 27 in Check List, an international journal of biodiversity data.

“This species was previously only found in Maludam National Park,” he said in his winding-up speech at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly sitting here yesterday.

Awang Tengah said the tricolour langur (Presbytis chrysomelas cruciger) was a protected species under the Sarawak Wildlife Protection Ordinance and categorised as critically endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

He said the Sarawak Forest Department was in the process of gazetting the new habitat as the Sungai Selai Inah protected forest, covering an area of about 845ha.

According to the journal report, eight groups of the tricolour langur were recorded in three fieldwork studies conducted in the Jemoreng peat swamp forest in late 2022 and February-March and August last year.

The report said seven groups consisted of three to seven individuals, including infants, while one large group was recorded to have more than 30 individuals.

Meanwhile, Awang Tengah said the Sarawak government gazetted the Bajoh-Ujong Murod protected forest this year which covers an area of 13,125ha.

He said this brought the total area of permanent forest estates in Sarawak to 3.96mil hectares.

Awang Tengah also said a scientific expedition was carried out at the Sebangkoi Nature Park on Feb 19-March 2 this year.

He said the study included an inventory of forest resources such as fungi, bats and birds.

“The results of the expedition will be used to prepare a proposal for gazetting the Sebangkoi Nature Park as an amenity forest for research, education and recreation,” he said.