Kashmir Gray Langur

Taxobox
name = Kashmir Gray LangurMSW3 Groves|pages=174|id=12100694]
status = EN
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2007|assessors=Participants of CBSG CAMP workshop: Status of South Asian Primates|year=2004|id=39833|title=Semnopithecus entellus "ssp." ajax|downloaded=02 August 2008]


image_width =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Cercopithecidae
genus = "Semnopithecus"
species = "S. ajax"
binomial = "Semnopithecus ajax"
binomial_authority = Pocock, 1928

The Kashmir Gray Langur ("Semnopithecus ajax") is an Old World monkey, one of the species of langurs. This, like other gray langurs, is a leaf-eating monkey. It is found in India west into Pakistani Kashmir and Nepal It was formerly considered a subspecies of "Semnopithecus entellus" and is one of several "Semnopithecus" species named after characters from "The Iliad", along with "Semnopithecus hector" and "Semnopithecus priam". [cite web|title=Mammal Species of the World Semnopithecus|url=http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/browse.asp?id=12100693|accessdate=2008-08-03]

The Kashmir Gray Langur is considered to be critically endangered. This is due to its restricted range, fragmented population, and threats from human agriculture and development activities. It is arboreal and diurnal, and lives in several types of forest as well as in areas inhabited by humans at altitudes between 2200 and 4000 meters.

The birthing season for the Kashmir Gray Langur runs from January through June, although almost half of all infants are born in March.cite book|title=Primates in Perspective | chapter = The Asian Colobines| author = R. Craig Kirkpatrick| editor = Christina J. Campbell, Agustin Fuentes, Katherine C. MacKinnon, Melissa Panger and Simon K. Bearder|year=2007|page=191-193,196|isbn=978-0-19-517133-4] The infants are weaned at a higher age than most Asian colobines. While most Asian colobines wean their young within the first year, Kashmir Gray Langurs wean their young on average at 25 months. This is apparently due to nutritional constraints, since monkeys in poorer sites wean their young at an older age. The interbirth interval for females is about 2.4 years.

Alloparental care occurs in Kashmir's gray langur for up to 5 months. Males are usually protective of infants, but infanticide occasionally occurs.

Although most Asian colobine groups contain only a single adult male and multiple females, multimale groups are known to occur within "Semnopithecus" species With Kashmir's Gray Langur, multimale groups may include as many as five adult males. Females initiate copulation by soliciting a male, but not all solicitations result in copulation.

References