Tag: mammal

Gibbon – Lar (also known as White handed) gibbon

Lar gibbons are quite attractive animals. The males and females are different colours.

Lar Gibbon

The Lar gibbon (which is known as the white handed gibbon in some areas). Currently found from Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. It is also present in the northwest portion of the island of Sumatra. This does give it the largest north south range of any gibbon species. However (as many would expect) that they once had a larger range. Their range historically extended from southwest China to Thailand and Burma. They were also found through the Malay Peninsula in primary and secondary tropical rain forests.  Lar gibbons are likely extinct in China, but if they still exist, they would only be found in southwest Yunnan, their former range.

There are five subspecies of lar gibbon:

  • Malaysian lar gibbon (H. l. lar) 15,000-20,000 
  • Carpenter’s lar gibbon (H. l. carpenteri)
  • Central lar gibbon (H. l. entelloides)
  • Sumatran lar gibbon (H. l. vestitus)
  • Yunnan lar gibbon (H. l. yunnanensis) (possibly extinct, if not under several 10)

 

 

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

 

Gibbon – Kloss gibbon

Kloss gibbon

The Kloss gibbon photo credit Klauss Rudlof

Kloss gibbons (also known as Mentawai gibbon, the bilou or the dwarf siamang). It is all black though smaller than the Siamang, also lacking the Siamang throats pouch. It is hard to tell the difference between males and females. Kloss’s gibbon exclusively lives on the “Mentawai Islands” that lie to the west of Sumatra. This island chain consists of 4 islands. The islands have large areas of rainforest, and this is where the Kloss gibbon spends its time. Pairs live in exclusive areas of 20-30 hectares, which it defends aggressively against other gibbons.

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. .

 

Gibbon – Northern and Southern white cheeked (plus the yellow cheeked gibbon)

Northern White-cheeked gibbon

Northern southern white cheeked gibbon and yellow cheeked gibbon have all been found to be very similar

While currently classed as 3 different species, recent analysis has shown that these species are actually very similar, and likely subspecies of each other. These species may well be split out in the future, but for the time being I will have them all on this page.

The Northern white cheeked gibbon is currently only found in northern Vietnam and North Laos. They were found in China in recent times and were only declared on the edge of extirpation in 2008. They were officially declared extinct in China in 2013. While there may be no space for its return to China in the near future, should it survive elsewhere there is a likelihood for it to return to China at some point in the future. There are only a few protected areas where this gibbon survives, and probably number between 200-400 in the wild.

The Southern white cheeked gibbon had an original range that covered central Vietnam and central Laos. While it is still common in the large remaining forest blocks within this area, these patches are scattered and fragmented by human encroachment and deforestation. The Southern white cheeked gibbon has also suffered declines of around 50% over the last 45 years.

Finally the Yellow cheecked gibbon ( also known as the golden-cheeked gibbon, the yellow-cheeked crested gibbon, the golden-cheeked crested gibbon, the red-cheeked gibbon and finally  the buffed-cheeked gibbon) is also closely related to these two – at various times one or more of these species has been considered a subspecies of one of the other, as such they are clearly closely related. Whether these species will remain separate or not, I have chosen to handle them together. This is found in various areas of Vietnam Laos and Cambodia.

It has various stable populations  in reserves, but how well it does outside protected areas is less clear.

 

Gibbon – Hoolock – Eastern, Western and Skywalker

Hoolock Gibbon by Dr Raju Kasambe

The Eastern and Western Hoolock gibbon, and the Skywalker gibbon

The Hoolock gibbons are 3 species (currently classified as separate species, lets see if they stay separate).

They are currently found in eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, Myanmar, and Southwest China. Unfortunately, while in some of these places they have large blocks of forest to live in, in other countries like Bangladesh, the population is split as the forest has been cut into smaller fragmnets, and there is little or no way for the gibbons to cross the deforested areas.

While these 3 species have split up in the last few years, there future standing and likely survival or extinction is widely varied.

 

  • The western Hoolock gibbons’s estimated population in 1980s was 3,000 individuals. By 2020 there were only about 469 gibbons left in 135 groups in Bangladesh’s northeastern and southeastern forests, according to the study. The decline is thought to be around 84% in 40 years in their Bangladesh population.
  • The Eastern Hoolock gibbons are thought to be far more numerous, however their population is predicted to shrink by 30% in the next 3 generations (45 years) so they may be uprated from vulerable in the near future.
  • The Skywalker gibbon (also known as the Gaoligong hoolock gibbon) is thought to have split from the Eastern Hoolock gibbon around half a million years ago. Unfortunately there are only thought to be 150 remaining members of this species, so they are extremely vulnerable to extinction. Unfortunately this species also has a fragmented range, which means that each small fragment has a higher chance of being pushed towards extinction. Regular translocation of these gibbons could assist in retaining a genetically healthy species – but whether this will occur is another matter.
As these are three closely related but separate species, we will include a bar that will show any articles on each one. Hopefully, in the future, there will also be 3 for places to see each of these species as well.

Eastern Hoolock Gibbon​

Western Hoolock Gibbon

Skywalker Gibbon

Gibbon – Black crested (including eastern and hainan)

Black crested gibbon

Black crested gibbon photo credit to Zhao Chao

The black crested gibbon is a species found within China Laos and Northern Vietnam. Currently, there are 4 subspecies which are recognized:

  • Central Yunnan black crested gibbon (Nomascus concolor jingdongensis), Yunnan province, China
  • West Yunnan black crested gibbon (N. c. furvogaster), Yunnan province, China
  • Tonkin black crested gibbon (N. c. concolor), northern Vietnam
  • Laotian black crested gibbon (N. c. lu), Laos
Looking at fossils and other remains, it is thought that 1000 years ago, the range of this gibbon covered much of Southern China, up to the Yellow river. Perhaps more research is required, as if all these sub-species are this recent, then it may be worth treating them as one mega population and translocating gibbons between the populations so as to retain genetic health in the greater population. The total population is thought to number 1300-2000 (other estimates put the upper limit at 1500).
 
There are also two species of gibbon that were at once a considered subspecies of the black crested gibbon. While these are now considered separate species, there is still some debate about their classification, and as such, I am going to deal with these separate species within this page as well. These are the 

  • Eastern black crested gibbon
  • Hainan black crested gibbon
Apart from their isolation, and the greater population being stuck in islands of forest, there also appears to be an issue with grey langurs out-competing the gibbons. Whether this is reducing their population or not is not yet known, but having a more varied diet, when times are hard the langurs are more likely to survive

 

 

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

 

Gibbon – Agile gibbon (black handed gibbon) and the Bornean white bearded gibbon

Agile gibbon & the Borneon white cheeked gibbon

Central chimpanzee is the most common, however only just over 100,000 of these chimpanzee still live in the wild

Agile gibbons are found in Indonesia on the island of Sumatra, Malaysia, and southern Thailand.

While not commonly recognized as having subspecies, some recognize a mountain and lowland version.

Accurate numbers of these gibbons in the wild are hard to find, but declines of 50% are thought to have occurred in the last 45 years, so this species is also classed as endangered. 

 

 While the Bornean white bearded gibbon is now considered a separate species, I will deal with it on the same page as they are similar. This species is considered endangered. Should news on this species grow, we will separate it out from other species.

 

 

While these animals are not great apes, they are lesser apes, and are very interesting to watch. There are likely to be a great draw in places where Orangutans do not exist, such as on mainland Asia, as well as in smaller reserves that cannot support Orangutans.

 

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 new

 

 

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)

 

Gibbon – Siamang

Siamong gibbons

Siamong gibbons live in the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. There are currently 2 recognized subspecies – one on the island of Sumatra, and the other in Malaysia. One place where the population is closely watched is in the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Sumatra. Here the population was estimated to be around 22,390 individuals. This suggests that there could be hundreds of thousands of Siamang gibbon across its entire range

 

Estimates for the whole area are unknown, and so possible numbers vary wildly. Having said this, in 1980s an estimates of the entire population was thought to be 360,000. While it is likely to have reduced dramatically fallen in the last 40+ years, though even a 50% reduction leaves almost 200,000.

 

While these animals are not great apes, they are lesser apes, and are very interesting to watch. There are likely to be a great draw in places where Orangutans do not exist, such as on mainland Asia, as well as in smaller reserves that cannot support Orangutans.

 

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

 

Mountain Gorilla

Mountain Gorilla

The mountain gorilla is a sub-species of the Eastern Lowland gorilla. It is isolated on two sets of mountains, they are only a few hundred miles apart, but given the space between their populations is one of the most dense human habitation in Africa, reconnecting these habitats will not be possible in the near future.

Mountain gorillas are very similar to eastern lowland gorillas, though as they have 8 inch hair all over their body, they look far larger.

Currently, there are 1063 mountain gorillas in the wild, split between their two reserves. This does not sound high, but has doubled since the 1980s when each reserve only had around 250 individuals. They are nowhere close to fully recovering, but it is questionable whether their two homes can support more gorillas than currently live there.

Eastern Gorilla

The Eastern gorilla (lowland)

The Eastern Gorilla, or Eastern lowland gorilla (as the Eastern gorilla subspecies is the mountain gorilla) is a species which makes its home only in lowland tropical rainforests in the eastern DRC. In the last 50 years, its range has almost halved, from 8,100 square miles—about the size of the state of Massachusetts— to about 4,600 square miles today. This subspecies may now occupy only 13% of its historical range.

Eastern Lowland gorilla

There are only about 5000 Eastern lowland gorillas left in the wild. While much of their numbers decrease over the last 50 years, has been as a result of a loss of habitat, their most immediate threat is currently, is that of the bushmeat trade. The area around their range is home to people with very little money. Tourism to this area, would likely greatly improve this issue and reduce the demand for Gorilla bush meat. Apart from the threat for the continued survival of this giant (alongside the mountain gorilla, this species is the largest great ape still living.

Any news articles will appear below, and links to allow travel to this region will be added below.

See Animals Wild