On the tree tops
By Charith Pelpola
 The
blistering heat of the Sri Lankan noonday sun is only partly screened out
by the forest canopy, and hidden in their shaded perch, the grey langurs,
Semnopithecus priam thersites, are content to laze.
Among the troop of between 6 and 309 individuals, are one or two babies,
the first of the season, born in January. Tended and groomed by 'aunts'
while their mothers look placidly on, the youngsters are beginning to recognize
the faces in the crowd. Langur mothers, who will give birth to a baby every
year, frequently let others 'borrow' their infants. Adolescent females
are particularly common aunts, but adult females also borrow, and many
even suckle another mother's infant.
A typical family troop consists of both sexes, although one of the old
males will usually be the dominant figure. The rest hold their position
in the hierarchy of the group , waiting for their turn to step up the ladder.
In practice, however, it is only the males that exhibit such rising
ambition. The females are more concerned with maintaining the family's
integrity.
 Sharing
the tending of the babies allows young females to practice mothering and
frees the mother from constant care. The bonds between the females inevitably
grow stronger, and those that have cared for youngsters will fight for
them–for fighting will indeed be necessary from time to time.
When a male outsider ousts the group's sole breeding male, perhaps once
every few years, the new group elder will attempt to kill the small infants
because, with their young wiped out, the females are soon ready to breed
again. Then the new leader can father his own.
Young mothers and aunts, who make up most of the group, will fiercely
resist the killing, sometimes successfully, although the male's larger
size makes it difficult. The invading male invariably travels with a small
group of subordinate bachelors, who will reinforce his advances.
Apart from such battles, langurs live in harmony, whooping to one another
as they sway gracefully through the trees to feed on fruits, flowers shoots
and leaves.
In the heat of the day they rest and groom and at night they sleep on
branches too fragile to bear the weight of their old enemy, the leopard.
Langurs are found throughout the jungle areas of the low country dry
zone, but they are by no means restricted to this environment.
Many a village temple has become a second home to these monkeys. They
come and go as they please in the communities of the plains, walking knee-
high to their human compatriots, but with more than a little boldness in
their delicate strides.
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