Number of gibbons plunge in 20 years
Saturday, 20 March 2010
The number of gibbons, the most endangered species of primate in Bangladesh, has plunged from 3,000 to just 300 over the last two decades, wildlife experts say, while the existing population is at grave risk from continuing loss of their forest habitat.
Experts believe gibbons, a highly social species of small ape that attract people with their exceptional look and behaviour, may disappear from Bangladesh altogether.
The gibbon, considered as at risk around the world, is the most endangered species in Bangladesh. Experts say eight species of apes and monkeys are at peril from habitat loss and climate change. The gibbon is the most endangered among these eight.
Despite this, no government or non-government surveys have ever been undertaken to determine their exact population in Bangladesh.
However, forest department conservator Tapan Kumar Dey told bdnews24.com that wildlife officials estimate there are just 200 to 300 gibbons remaining at present throughout the country.
According to the forest department and Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB), the western hoolock gibbon is found mostly in the forests of greater Sylhet in the northeast and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeast of Bangladesh-and also in India, Myanmar and China.
There face numerous threats in the wild, and are now entirely dependent on human action for their survival. Threats include habitat encroachment, capture for trade and forest degradation.
Over the last 30-40 years, western hoolock gibbon numbers are estimated to have dropped from more than 100,000 (Assam alone was estimated to have around 80,000 in the early 1970s) to less than 5,000 individuals, a decline of more than 90 percent.
Professor Md Anwarul Islam, executive chairman of the WTB, told bdnews24.com on Thursday that in Bangladesh the number of gibbons had fallen from 3,000 to 300 in 20 years.
He said the main reasons were disappearing habitat and scarcity of food, and expressed concern that the small number of still surviving gibbons might soon be extinct.
"Gibbons are totally depended on trees for their food and shelter. Their way of life is hampered if even parts of the forest in which they live become tree-less as they move around the forest through the treetops."
The small apes with exceptionally long arms are masters of their primary mode of locomotion, brachiation, or swinging from branch to branch, at speeds as high as 56km/h (35 mph). They can also make leaps of up to 8m (26 ft), and walk with their arms raised for balance.
They are the fastest and most agile of all tree-dwelling, non-flying mammals.
Gibbons are active during the daytime. They sleep in the high branches of trees and eat mainly fruit. They also like green leaves, flowers and insects.
Female gibbons give birth to offspring every three years in the winter season. The white male babies gradually turn black as they become older, at 6-7 years, while the females are a lighter colour.
Islam said about 50 gibbons live in the Lauachhara forest in Sylhet and another 80 to 90 live in the Kaptai National Park.
But in other areas, these unique animals are being divided into much smaller groups, through habitat loss, which threatens their ability to survive.
Experts believe gibbons, a highly social species of small ape that attract people with their exceptional look and behaviour, may disappear from Bangladesh altogether.
The gibbon, considered as at risk around the world, is the most endangered species in Bangladesh. Experts say eight species of apes and monkeys are at peril from habitat loss and climate change. The gibbon is the most endangered among these eight.
Despite this, no government or non-government surveys have ever been undertaken to determine their exact population in Bangladesh.
However, forest department conservator Tapan Kumar Dey told bdnews24.com that wildlife officials estimate there are just 200 to 300 gibbons remaining at present throughout the country.
According to the forest department and Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB), the western hoolock gibbon is found mostly in the forests of greater Sylhet in the northeast and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeast of Bangladesh-and also in India, Myanmar and China.
There face numerous threats in the wild, and are now entirely dependent on human action for their survival. Threats include habitat encroachment, capture for trade and forest degradation.
Over the last 30-40 years, western hoolock gibbon numbers are estimated to have dropped from more than 100,000 (Assam alone was estimated to have around 80,000 in the early 1970s) to less than 5,000 individuals, a decline of more than 90 percent.
Professor Md Anwarul Islam, executive chairman of the WTB, told bdnews24.com on Thursday that in Bangladesh the number of gibbons had fallen from 3,000 to 300 in 20 years.
He said the main reasons were disappearing habitat and scarcity of food, and expressed concern that the small number of still surviving gibbons might soon be extinct.
"Gibbons are totally depended on trees for their food and shelter. Their way of life is hampered if even parts of the forest in which they live become tree-less as they move around the forest through the treetops."
The small apes with exceptionally long arms are masters of their primary mode of locomotion, brachiation, or swinging from branch to branch, at speeds as high as 56km/h (35 mph). They can also make leaps of up to 8m (26 ft), and walk with their arms raised for balance.
They are the fastest and most agile of all tree-dwelling, non-flying mammals.
Gibbons are active during the daytime. They sleep in the high branches of trees and eat mainly fruit. They also like green leaves, flowers and insects.
Female gibbons give birth to offspring every three years in the winter season. The white male babies gradually turn black as they become older, at 6-7 years, while the females are a lighter colour.
Islam said about 50 gibbons live in the Lauachhara forest in Sylhet and another 80 to 90 live in the Kaptai National Park.
But in other areas, these unique animals are being divided into much smaller groups, through habitat loss, which threatens their ability to survive.