Tag: gibbon

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Sumatra is finding that building bridges over roads is much cheaper than elsewhere

This seems a very cheap and simple solution to roads, at least for primates. A standard motorway bridge in the UK can cost well over $1million (estimates suggest at least £890,000). This compares to a canopy bridge costing $5000 if even that much.

Each male Sumatran Orangutan needs 15 square miles, while females need at least 3 square miles. Therefore in order to have a significant population in an area of say 1000 individuals, you are talking about needing almost 10,000 square miles of rainforest that is connected. It is highly likely, in a 100 by 100 square mile block that there will be some roads crossing it. Therefore, these simple methods for connecting forest blocks could become more and more important.

It should be noted, that while this works for primates in areas like this, it will not help the Sumatran elephants, or rhino or tigers, which share some of these forests. Still, it might mean that larger bridges for other animals to cross could be less common, while still allowing primates to cross with ease?

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Male dominance is perhaps less the default than thought amongst primates, a new study has found

Even before the study was started, it was known that some species are not male dominated. Above is a family of Bonobos, and these great apes live in a female dominated society.

Given our assumption that on male dominance, it is perhaps surprising, that only 58% of primate species have dominant males. Perhaps not surprising, as a result, every major primate group had at least one species which was female (or co-dominant) structures.

Indeed, with the gibbons (or lesser apes on this website, to check them out, click here to visit the home page, and then expand the species database, and click on lesser apes) all 5 species examined (there are a total of 20) have been classed as non-male dominant.

Amongst primates, this likelihood is (according to Lewis, the head of the study) relatively easily predicted, as tends to occur in the species, where there is little difference between the size of male and female members.

An example here, is clear: while a male gorilla can weigh twice that of a female, siamang gibbons only have males a couple of kg heavier than females – not surprisingly, while male gorillas are dominant, this is not the case with siamang gibbons.

It should be noted, therefore, that while 4 out the 5 species of great apes are male dominated (we assume this in humans as well, though, in the modern day, it would be hard to argue that we are not more of a co dominant species. Given that likely all the lesser apes (the gibbons) are more or less co-dominant, it follows, that even just looking at the apes, more are female dominant or co-dominant.

Continue reading “Male dominance is perhaps less the default than thought amongst primates, a new study has found”
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Cao vit Gibbon is 40% closer to extinction than thought.

This species was already only thought to have a wild population of 120, however the population has been found to have fallen to just 74 (a 38% reduction).

Just found in a fragment of rainforest on the Vietnam – China border, the remaining population is estimated to live in 11 family groups.

Surveys are capable of being done remotely, as the gibbons call loudly at certain times of the day (dawn) allowing them to be counted. Importantly, they have been able to “fingerprint” each of the gibbons by their unique calls. This means that a few handfuls of directional speakers should allow the ability to keep track of individuals across the whole forest (without having to put large numbers of researchers in the field each day.

To hear these creatures yourself, play the video above.

Once thought to be the same species as the Hainan black crested gibbon. It seems that this was an early false belief. This species will be added in the year future (indeed, if I succeed, its page will exist before this article goes live)

Gibbon – grey (Mullers/Southern, Northern, Western(Abbots) and Eastern)

The Grey Gibbon (also known as Mullers/Southern, Northern, Western (abbots) and Eastern

The Grey (Mullers/Southern, Northern, Western(Abbots) and Eastern) gibbon is a species endemic to the island of Borneo. As you can see, it goes by a variety of names.

Thought, until recently to be a single species, alongside the Northern and the Southern grey, recent studies have demonstrated that they are distinct enough to be separated either as subspecies or species. However, we are going to deal with them together. It is true that along the border of their ranges, there have been occasions of breeding together -and while lions and tigers have interbred, this seems different. It is possible that in the future, I will separate them out.

Borneon grey gibbons are as a whole considered endangered, having suffered a greater than 50% decline in numbers in the last 45 years.

 

 

The rainforests of Borneo are thought to be 140 million years old yet humans have destroyed half of it in just 40 years. The biggest driver of this deforestation is the Palm oil industry, which has required land to grow its crops. Never-ending growth of the lands for this crop must end, though whether this end will be reached while Borneon forests still stand is anyones guess.

 

 

 

This is not a species that I have written about, but if I do in the future, it will appear below. Furthermore, as we add destinations that are good for this species they will appear below the news (do feel free to send news articles that you write to be included here)

 

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