Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Primates’; Saving the Red-Shanked Douc
Vietnam is one of the most important countries in the world for Primate conservation— hosting around 25 recorded species, many of them critically threatened. In the coastal forest Reserve of Son Tra in Central Vietnam, small populations of the endangered Red-Shanked Douc Langur, often described as the ‘Queen of Primates’ due to its beautiful and distinctive colouring, have managed to survive a wide range of threats— from hunting and poaching to deforestation and habitat loss.
Red-Shanked Douc Langur (Pygathrix nemaeous) at Son Tra Reserve, Vietnam. Image by Rupert Bedford
In February 2026 I visited the Reserve and discovered how, thanks to the work of local and international conservationists, along with a changing culture towards wildlife conservation in Vietnam, Douc Langur populations are recovering and there is now real hope for their future.
By Rupert Bedford.
The Coastal Forest of Son Tra Reserve
As we travel along the coastal road through the city of Danang in south central Vietnam, my guide informs me that we’re only around fifteen minutes away from our destination. This takes me by surprise as I find it difficult to believe that any real wildlife could survive in such close proximity to this sprawling coastal city of 1.3 million people. But true enough, soon we reach the foot of Son Tra Mountain and begin the steep climb towards its higher reaches. And the higher we climb the thicker the forest becomes, until the city disappears from sight and we are immersed in the sights and sounds of a whole new environment; home to a beautiful but endangered species of langur; the Red-Shanked Douc.
I am in Vietnam visiting my son and his family who live here, and have taken myself off on a little Wild World ‘excursion’ to try to find (and learn more about) this enigmatic creature.
The Son Tra Reserve is an ‘island’ of forest cut off by the coastal city of Danang. Footage by Rupert Bedford.
Queen of Primates; the Red-Shanked Douc
As we hike along a dirt track in the Son Tra forest, clutching our cameras at the ready in anticipation of a sighting, I learn from my guide, Gia Bao from Hi Vooc, that the Red-Shanked Douc Langurs are part of a wider Douc Langur ‘family’ which includes Black-Shanked and Grey-Shanked Doucs. Once found in the vast expanses of forest throughout Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, they are now restricted to small ‘islands’ of forest and fighting for their survival.
Wild World map. The Red-Shanked Douc is now only found in small pockets of forest in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
I also learn that, due to its beautiful and distinctive colouring, the Red-Shanked Douc has become something of a ‘poster species’ for primate conservation and eco-tourism in Vietnam. And, despite enormous pressures to develop the Son Tra Peninsula, the discovery and presence of this primate has been a significant reason for restrictions imposed on developers in the area.
Quietly watching and observing wildlife in its natural environment is a thrilling - often profound - experience and a special privilege. Footage by Rupert Bedford.
Survival of the ‘Urban Avoiders’
The Red-Shanked Douc is found exclusively in wooded forest environments. As such, they are urban ‘avoiders’ not urban ‘adapters’. It is therefore critical to their survival that the small remaining pockets of their forest habitat are protected. In a country that is experiencing rapid economic development, forest habitats are under extreme pressure from development. For example, when a university professor from Danang declared, in the early 2000’s, that all the Doucs on Son Tra were dead, the Intercontinental Hotel quickly moved in to a prime location on the peninsula, threatening not only the Douc habitat but also the turtle nesting beaches in the area as well as other wildlife. It was only after conservationists were able to prove that there were in fact large remaining groups of Red-Shanked Douc still on the mountain that further development was halted— for the time being at least.
These primates have shown an extraordinary resilience in the face of numerous threats. When Lois Lippold, one of the world’s leading authorities on the Red-Shanked Douc and founder of the Douc Langur Foundation (DLF), first visited the area in 1974 towards the end of Vietnam War (referred to in Vietnam as the ‘American War’), she discovered that the primates were being used as target practice by soldiers from the US base on the peninsula. More recently, during the course of writing this post, DLF posted…
“152 traps found in one day. Clamp traps under soil and wire traps in trees. Doucs being caught in tree snares causing grave injuries to Douc hands, arms and legs. Need Forest Patrol Rangers and Forest guards to remove these daily. Need to apprehend professional hunters and locals who are doing this!”
A Changing Culture towards Conservation in Vietnam
Despite the challenges, the work of Douc Langur Foundation and other international NGO’s goes on. But it does not happen in isolation. Critical to their work is collaboration with the authorities and with Vietnamese conservationists. Often low profile and unsung, it is conservationists based in local communities around the country that will ultimately determine whether local habitats remain protected or not over the longer term.
Fortunately, in Vietnam there appears to be something of a ‘cultural’ change happening across the country which increasingly recognizes the value of protecting nature for its own right. This change is being driven in part by a new breed of young Vietnamese conservationist, strengthened by a focus on women’s empowerment, and exemplified by organisations such as WildAct.
Trang Nguyen is founder of WildAct, a vietnamese NGO focused on wildlife conservation. In 2018 she gave a TED talk ‘Last of the Wild’ in which she spoke about the low status of doing work such as Conservation in Vietnam— instead she would be expected to become a teacher or lawyer or doctor. She and others are driving a change of culture towards recognising the importance of conservation in their country.
The Future
With ‘economics’ so often being a determining factor in the fate of the natural environment, it is encouraging to see, in conjunction with the cultural shift towards conservation, a parallel rise in ‘eco-tourism’ in Vietnam, with organisations such as Greenviet, Hi Vooc and Next Continent leading the way in the Danang area— inspiring and educating people about the beautiful, precious but vulnerable wildlife that they have on their doorstep.
The old adage that people will only ‘love what they know and protect what they love’ is certainly true here and this continuing work in fostering a love for Son Tra and it’s unique wild inhabitants offers a genuine hope for Vietnam’s Queen of Primates.