China event raises concern over India’s only ape

Subject :Environment

Section: Species in new

Context:

The conservation status of India’s only ape was a cause for concern at a global event on gibbons held a week ago in China.
The Global Gibbon Network (GGN) had its first meeting at Haikou in China’s Hainan province from July 7-9.

Hoolock Gibbon:

Gibbons, the smallest and fastest of all apes, live in tropical and subtropical forests.
The tailless Hoolock Gibbon is the only ape found in India.
The primate is native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India and Southwest China.
The estimated population of hoolock gibbons is 12,000.
Like all apes, they are extremely intelligent, with distinct personalities and strong family bonds.
The hoolock gibbon faces threat primarily from the felling of trees for infrastructure projects.
The Hoolock Gibbon is categorized into two types:
Western hoolock gibbon:
- It inhabits all the states of the north-east, restricted between the south of the Brahmaputra river and east of the Dibang river. And outside India, it is found in eastern Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar.
- It is listed as Endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
Eastern hoolock gibbon:
- It inhabits specific pockets of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India, and in southern China and north-east Myanmar outside India.
- It is listed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist.
- In India, both the species are listed on Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972.

One species, not two:

A study led by Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in 2021 proved through genetic analysis that there is only one species of ape in India.
It debunked earlier research that the eastern hoolock gibbon was a separate species based on the colour of its coat.
The two populations of the western hoolock gibbon and the assumed eastern hoolock gibbon split 1.48 million years ago. It also estimated that the gibbon divergence from a common ancestor occurred 8.38 million years ago.
However, the Red List maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature categorises the western hoolock gibbon as endangered and the eastern hoolock gibbon as vulnerable.

About the Global Gibbon Network (GGN):

During the International Gibbon Day 2020 event, representatives from 20 gibbon conservation organizations came together for the first time to discuss gibbon conservation.
During the event, Eco Foundation Global, the Hainan Institute of National Park, the IUCN Species Survival Commission Section on Small Apes (IUCN SSA), the Zoological Society of London and other organizations jointly launched the Global Gibbon Conservation Network Initiative that has been published on the IUCN website since 17 December 2020, calling on the world to join forces to establish a Global Gibbon Network (GGN).
The GGN was founded with a vision to safeguard and conserve a key element of Asia’s unique natural heritage — the singing gibbon and their habitats, by promoting participatory conservation policies, legislations, and actions.