Endangered species of monkey sighted at 2 places in Cachar

May 24: A rare species of monkeys, known as Slow Loris (লজ্জাবতী বানর) were sighted and later on rescued from two different locations in Cachar district. Two such monkeys were spotted at Doyapore Tea Estate and Dwarbond area in Cachar. One of the rare monkey was rescued and later on left in the forest.

On Sunday night, a hue and cry was raised in the labour line of Dayapore Tea Estate as they sighted an unusual animal. The animal was slightly injured. Somehow, the people caught the animal and took it to the garden factory in an injured condition. It was then given water to drink. Locals informed that immediately after drinking water, the animal climbed up a tree near the factory gate. One of the locals took a photograph of the animal and did image search in Google. He then came to know that the animal is scientifically known as Slow Loris, which was a rare species of monkey. The people of the area has appealed to rescue the animal as it required urgent medical care.

Another such rare & endangered species of Slow Loris was sighted at Dwarbond area of Cachar. As per reports,  one Devarshi Dey, a resident of Dwarbond who is an employee of Assam University say the monkey on Sunday morning. It was totally drenched in the rain. He along with another local Dharmendra Tiwari informed the matter to DFO Cachar Sunnideo Choudhury. He immediately sent two staff of the forest department, Amit Gowala and Kalyan Bhattacharjee. They rescued the animal and released it in the Barail protected forest.

Prof. Parthankar Choudhury- former Head, Department of Ecology & Environment Science, Assam University informed that the Slow Loris is the earliest evolved monkey. It evolved around 65,000 years ago and is the ancestor of all of us. Prof. Choudhury informed that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) The Wild Life (Protection) Act of India, 1972 treated the Slow Loris as an Endangered species.

He further said that this animal is Endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species due to a combination of habitat loss and severe pressure from the hunters. This has resulted in the reduction in the population of Slow Loris of more than 50 percent over three generations. One Nabajit Das has done his Ph.D on Slow Loris from Gauhati University. Prof Parthankar Choudhury along with Dr Pawlen Singh of Cachar College & others have an already published paper on this species, which depicts the status of of Slow Loris in Barak Valley. Further, they are coming up with another paper, wherein they will be discussing on the habitat modelling on Slow Loris.

As regards the sudden sighting of the Slow Loris, Dr. Choudhury said man’s greed has exceeded his needs. It appears that the Slow Loris have spread themselves in different zones to stage multiple protest against the diverse survival threats that they are facing.

Also Read: Endangered Fishing Cat spotted & rescued from a village in Karimganj