The lack of visitors has come as a welcome break for solitary animals like tigers and leopards, but the sociable primates are said to be missing the human company Jahangir Ali, an animal handler at the Assam State Zoo, has been looking after a family of golden langurs for the past four years.
At 6 am every day, he carries a basket with fruits and vegetables to their enclosure, feeds them, cleans their wastes and checks up on their young. “They’re just like humans," he says, referring to their social habits. “Only their face is a little different." So when the Assam State Zoo, spread over 175-hectares inside a reserve park in Guwahati, shut down on 15 March to prevent the spread of covid19, Ali was concerned about its impact on the langurs.