HANUMAN LANGUR in Kerala

Local Name: Vellamanthi

Distinctive Characters:- A medium-sized, long-tailed macaque. A bonnet of long dark hairs radiates in all directions from a whorl on its Crown. The bonnet does not quite cover the forehead, where the hairs are short and neatly parted in the centre.Habits:- This is a little pale-faced monkey commonly seen with strolling showmen in southern India, where it is the counterpart of the northern rhesus. It is the common species in village and jungle, both in the foothills and in the plains. Troops of as many as 20 or 30 animals may be found feeding on the ground or in the trees. It is more arboreal in habit than most macaques, hence its longer tail. Bonnet Macaques eat anything eatable, fruits, berries, leaves and shoots, also insects, grubs, and spiders.