A critically endangered Raffles Banded Langur, was caught on camera near Thomson Nature Park.

The curious primate was spotted crossing a man-made rope bridge with its family, which was built to keep them safe from traffic, as seen in a video posted by Minister for Social & Family Development, Desmond Lee, who is also the Second Minister for the Ministry of National Development.

Critically-endangered species

The Raffles Banded Langur are shy creatures and hence, they are rarely spotted as compared to the long-tailed macaques.

In addition, the species is critically endangered with about 40 to 60 individuals left in the wild in Singapore.

They are mainly threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation.

According to the Raffles Banded Langur Working Group, a conservation project to safeguard these creatures, the monkeys enjoy eating petai found in the wild.

Troop of langurs caught on video while crossing rope bridge

According to the Facebook video by Lee on April 16, a group of langurs was sighted crossing a rope bridge last week near Thomson Nature Park.

To safeguard rare native biodiversity, such as these langurs, Thomson Nature Park was opened in Oct. 2019, to provide an improved habitat for these rare creatures.

To ensure that the primates do not fall victim to road accidents, rope bridges were built between Thomson Nature Park and Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

One particular langur from the family noticed the camera which was supposedly hidden in the foliage while resting on the rope bridge.

It then approached this foreign object steadily and fumbled with the camera, probably mistaking the camera as food.

And here's a good selfie taken:

Here's the full text from the post by Lee:

Last October, NParks opened Thomson Nature Park – a key conservation site for our rare native biodiversity, including the critically endangered Raffles Banded Langur. The habitats and ecological connectivity of the area had been enhanced for the Langurs. Rope bridges between the Nature Park and the adjacent Central Catchment Nature Reserve act as canopy linkages to keep them safe from traffic. Just last week, we captured camera footage of a troop of Langurs using these bridges! Here’s the video – don’t miss the monkey selfies at around 1.58!

During this critical period, it is important that all of us stay home and keep ourselves and our families safe from the threat of COVID-19. Our biodiversity is keeping well, and will still be around for us to visit and admire, after we have overcome this pandemic.

#CityInNature #SingaporeTogether #StayHomeforSG #SGUnited

You can watch the full video here.

Top screenshots via Desmond Lee/Facebook