Dusky Leaf Monkey

Dusky Leaf Monkeys

Last Sunday was a day of discovery for me. Behind my apartment, there is a unique tree which bears clusters of fruits from its branches and trunks occasionally. For the past few days, I have noticed that  there were more fruits than usual this time around, and they were all in various stages of ripening, from light green, to yellow, orange and red. Not knowing what tree it was, I planned to take a photograph of the tree and its fruits and ask my friend, who is a botany enthusiast, to identify the plant.

As I was walking towards the tree, with my camera in hand, I was greatly surprised to see our local gang of Dusky Leaf Monkeys perching and swinging on the tree, foraging through the fruits. It was a wonderful sight to behold - bespectacled langurs, as cute as can be, eating the ripe fruits, balancing on the branches with their overly long tails.

Trachypithecus obscurus halonifer

These monkeys are also known as Spectacled Langurs and the scientific name for it is Trachypithecus obscurus. This particular subspecies in the photograph is only found in Penang Island and is called Trachypithecus obscurus halonifer. It's features are described below:

"The subspecies of the dusky leaf monkey has a brownish body color with distinct formation of stripes on its dorsal side. The tail and limbs have a coloration that is similar to the body and the crown has a creamy white color. These subspecies are only found in Penang Island in Malaysia."

More information about the dusky leaf monkey at https://www.aboutanimals.com/mammal/dusky-leaf-monkey/

As it turns out, the fruiting tree is a cluster fig tree - also known as Indian fig tree or goolar (gular) fig. The scientific name for it is Ficus racemosa. More information can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_racemosa .

It was an auspicious day for me indeed as three different elements met together at that moment - the dusky leaf monkeys, the cluster fig tree and my beloved camera. 

Sky Walker

Sky Walker

A few weeks ago the sun decided to splash its glorious colours onto the perpetual canvas above us. It was a sunrise captured by many in Penang and posted all over Facebook. The fiery orange and red hues contrasted with the deep blue sky, mirrored perfectly on the bay at Tanjung Bungah.

It's the start of the skyscape season for landscape photographers, as the sun moves back to the north easterly horizon, and frequent rain storms brings about dramatic clouds in the sky.

As a bonus, here is another photograph of the same sunrise; this time with a beautiful light trail of moving traffic below. I call it Phoenix's Trail.

Phoenix's Trail