Foraging ecology of Nilgiri Langur (Trachypithecus Johnii) in Parimbikulam Tiger Reserve, Kerala, India

We studied the foraging ecology of Trachypithecus johnii from December 2011 to march 2012 in Parambikulam tiger reserve, kerala, India.We collected phenology of food plant species and food consumed by langurs living in two habitats. Feeding records showed that Nilgiri Langur (Trachypithecus johnii) feeds on 97 species of plants belonging to 44 families. The food plants species composed of trees, shrubs and climbers which were constituted 78, 6, and 7 species respectively. Among the different plant categories trees accounts for 83.87%, followed by climber 7.53%, shrub 6.45%, herb 1.08% and grass 1.08%. Thus trees and shrub were constituted about 90% of overall composition of food plant species. Food plant species composed of 44 different families, in which Fabaceae was constituted by 16 species with greatest percent (16%), followed by Euphorbiaceae (8 sp.) Moraceae (5sp.) and other families represented less than 3% .The diet species of Nilgiri Langurr was compared with other areas and discussed.