World’s first Francois' leaf monkey twins debut in China

A pair of Francois' leaf monkeys made their public debut on Sunday at Guangzhou's Chimelong Safari Park in south China’s Guangdong Province.
According to the zoo, the male and female are the first set of Francois' leaf twins ever born in captivity.
Currently, there are a total of 14 Francois' leaf monkeys living in the park. Xiao Xiao, their mother, gave birth to the pair in April. The babies were born with bright orange fur which will turn black within two to three months, reports Chinese news portal China News.
The species, one of the world's rarest and also known as Francois' langurs, is named after



Auguste François, a French consul who worked in southern China between 1896 and 1904.
It was listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species in 2008.
While the population was estimated to number less than 2,500 individuals in 2007, its numbers have continued to decrease as a result of hunting and loss of habitat.
In November, 2017, China released five Francois' leaf monkeys that were bred in captivity into a nature reserve in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in the hope of boosting its slim population figures within its natural habitat.