Guwahati: A breeding centre for endangered golden langurs may soon come up in the premises of the Assam Zoo.
Only a handful of golden langurs (Trachypithecusgeei) are found in the Manas Tiger reserve in lower Assam and in the Umananda temple on river Brahmaputra near here.
Zoo divisional forest officer Utpal Bora said, "The project is highly ambitious and right now it is at a preliminary stage. We have submitted the initial proposals to the government to set up the breeding centre inside the zoo which is a very suitable location for their breeding."
"This initiative has been approved by the government and a detailed report for forming an expert team and construction of an enclosure are being prepared," Bora said.
The zoo DFO said the conservation of the endangered species will help increase its population and subsequently they can be released in the wild.
Bora said some golden langurs are already in the zoo, but most of them are males and efforts are being made to get some female langurs from Umananda for breeding.
