<
https://www.rewildingmag.com/these-gibbons-were-reunited-after-132-years/>
"Jeevan Deka points up and exclaims in a whisper: “There, can you see it?!” I
follow the imaginary line from my guide’s forefinger straight to the dense
foliage overhead. A small creature with thick and shaggy black fur is dangling
on the branch of a huge tree. For a fleeting moment, I see a mask-like face
with white stripes above the eyes – and then suddenly it’s gone, vanishing into
the leaves.
“That’s a male western hoolock gibbon,” Deka says. “The females have a
grey-brown coat and both the sexes are characterized by long limbs.” Known for
their shyness and swiftness, these highly arboreal canopy-dwellers are rarely
spotted in the wild.
I’m at Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in the northeastern Indian state
of Assam. Spanning only 21 square kilometres, the reserve forest, located along
the south bank of the Brahmaputra River, is an evergreen, isolated patch with
the highest primate diversity in India. Species here include the capped langur,
the northern pigtailed macaque, the Assamese macaque, the rhesus macaque and
the nocturnal Bengal slow loris. It is also India’s only protected reserve
forest for the western hoolock gibbon, a lesser ape species listed as
endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. It
is estimated that about 125 gibbons call Hollongapar their home.
The story of the sanctuary spans more than a century. In 1881, land here was
set aside for a reserve forest. In the decades that followed, however, many
wrongs were committed, including a devastating decision to run a 1.6-kilometre
railway track through the sanctuary, essentially dividing it in half. But the
latest chapter is one of hope for both the gibbons and their forest-dwelling
neighbours – thanks to rewilding."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
