Why in news?

Differing elevations of habitation make one group of Himalayan Gray Langur prefer fruits and another group relish flowers, says a study published in  Journal of Threatened Taxa

Highlights:

• Primatologists studied the diet composition of five such groups in and around the Kalatop-Khajjiar Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh. one inhabiting the Kalatop forest (2,396 metres), and other in the Khajjiar forest (2,188 metres)
• Kalatop group satisfied by feeding on flowers, the Khajjiar group ate fruits for a change of taste.
• Study for a comparison of the diet and behaviour in the forested groups and the urbanised can help formulate specific conservation action for both the groups.

Why the different feeding habit?

• The preference for fruits or flowers “may depend upon the difference in their distribution in terms of elevation and availability of a particular plant part

The Himalayan grey langur

• The Himalayan Gray Langur was once considered a sub-species of the Semnopithecus entellus, commonly known as the Bengal Sacred Langur or Hanuman Langur, but it was separated as a species in 2005.
• It is an Endangered( leaf eating monkey) confined to the Chamba Valley of the Western Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh state
• Fragmentation, deforestation, persecution and retaliatory killing due to crop raiding, and commercial horticulture expansion are threats of serious concern confronting the Himalayan grey langurs.

Kalatop Khajjiar Sanctuary

• It is an animal sanctuary at Kalatop and Khajjiar in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.
• Vegetation : There is a dense deodar and fir forest, surrounded by coniferous and oak forests.
• River : Ravi