Xìn chào Quý Báu!
ABC 7 News, a local news station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, reports that the city's zoo welcomed the birth of an endangered François' langur on December 13. The baby, named Quý Báu ("precious" in Vietnamese), is the daughter of first-time parents Mei Mei and Chester; it is the first time a member of this species was born at the Philly zoo.
A video posted on the zoo's Facebook page shows the sleepy, orange-hued ragamuffin being bathed, blow-dried and fed before spending time in her mother's arms.
According to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center, adult François' langurs have a black coat with white hair on their cheeks and pointed crest of hair on the top of their head. They weigh from 5.5 to 7.9 kilograms and are endemic to southern China and northeastern Vietnam. The species is named after Auguste François, a French diplomat stationed in southern China in the late 19th and early 20th century.
François' langur tend to live in limestone rainforests and are threatened by hunting for traditional medicine, as well as habitat fragmentation due to limestone extraction and the expansion of agricultural land. In Vietnam, they are listed as "endangered" and are protected under conservation laws. It is estimated that fewer than 500 individuals remain in the wild in Vietnam.
In other US zoo news, the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee saw the birth of a male François' langur on August 5, 2020.
[Photo via Philadelphia Zoo]
