Red Langur feeding on ripe Ficus subcordata figs at Tawau Hills

The photo above shows a Red Langur Presbytis rubicunda eating a ripe black Ficus subcordata fig fruit at Tawau Hills Park in SE Sabah.

Observations at Tawau Hills by Shavez Cheema and Chun Xing Wong indicate that family troops of Red Langurs regularly visit fruiting Ficus subcordata fig trees and spend the whole day eating the ripe figs. Initial reports indicate that the langurs take a long time to slowly eat pieces of the outer flesh and do not bother to eat the seeds. Red Langurs could therefore be classified as pulp thieves of ripe figs. At Tawau Hills Red Langurs also eat ripe Ficus lepicarpa figs. At Maliau, Red Langurs have been recorded eating ripe Ficus dubia figs.

In a 17 month study of Red Langur diet at Sepilok (where figs are abundant) Davies (1991) Seed eating by Maroon Langurs Sepilok found that figs played an insignificant role in the diet of the local Red Langurs.

Likewise Maklarin Lakim who studied Red Langurs at Tawau Hills found that the Langurs ate 120 species of plants but that figs were not a significant part of their diet . See below.