Who would believe that arboreal monkey found in the canopies of the tall trees in the rainforest of the Western Ghats in the States such as Kerala, Karnatka and Tamil Nadu has been forced to live on ground for its existence at some places where their habitat has been disturbed by the human beings.

Recently I was in Valparai, a small town in the Tamil Nadu and was interested in seeing the rare primate, whose total number is estimated be not more than 3500 in the wild. Yes I was lucky to observe them from a close distance but I was disappointed to see them jumping on the vehicle and snatching the food packets and opening the package on the bonnet of the car or in the middle of the road.

People living in Northern part of India observe two species of monkey namely Gray langur having black face and Rhesus macaque. However the Western Ghats of South India have Nilgiri Langur , Bonnet Macaque ,Lion Tailed Macaque and Gray Langur.

It is pertinent to mention that there are in all 13 species of monkeys in the Indian Subcontinent. Seven of them are found in North East Region of the country.

Image of Lion Tailed Macaque taken on 26th November 2018 on the outskirts of Valparai.