Over the last few years, a ‘phantom’ has been sporadically spotted by conservationists in the forests of Nadugani, shared by the Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu and Nilambur in Kerala.
“When I saw it, I was shocked, as there had been no records of the animal in the Nilgiris till date,” said Azad Kamil, founder of the Ongil Nature Trust. The animal, Mr. Kamil is referring to, is the endangered Lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus), which has never been recorded in the district. Mr. Kamil said he had spotted a single animal among the forest canopy in 2021, and such was his disbelief that he had spoken to other researchers trying to ascertain if there was a population that he was unaware of.
In the 1880’s manual of the Nilgiris district, the macaque, then called ‘The Lion Monkey’ is described as “shy”, inhabiting “dense and remote forests on the Malabar side of the hills.”
