Lion-tailed macaque

Few animals feel as tied to a single place as the lion-tailed macaque. Endemic to the rainforests of the Western Ghats and found nowhere else on earth, it is a shy, dark primate framed by a striking silver-grey mane — and it has become one of the species I most want people to slow down for.

I photographed them at Valparai in Tamil Nadu, where fragments of rainforest survive between the tea estates. The macaques move high in the canopy, and the light there is difficult — deep shade broken by sudden bright gaps. Patience and a steady eye on the treetops are the only way in.

An endangered species clinging to a shrinking forest, the lion-tailed macaque is a reminder of how much the Western Ghats still hold, and how easily it could be lost.