Gibbons

Crested Gibbons: Nomascus

These subspecies are included:

Black Crested Gibbon: Nomascus concolor

Cao Vit Gibbon: Nomascus nasutus

Hainan Gibbon: Nomascus hainanus

Northern Gray Gibbon: Nomascus funereus

Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon: Nomascus leucogenys

Northern Yellow-Cheeked Gibbon: Nomascus annamensis

Southern White-Cheeked Gibbon: Nomascus siki

Southern Yellow-Cheeked Crested Gibbon: Nomascus gabriellae

Dwarf Gibbons: Hylobates

These subspecies are included:

Abbott’s Gray Gibbons: Hylobates abbotti

Agile Gibbon: Hylobates agilis

Bornean Gibbon: Hylobates muelleri

Bornean White-Bearded Gibbon: Hylobates albibarbis

Kloss’s Gibbon: Hylobates klossii

Pileated Gibbon: Hylobates pileatus

Silvery Gibbon: Hylobates moloch

White-Handed Gibbon: Hylobates lar

Hoolock Gibbon: Hoolock

These subspecies are included:

Eastern Hoolock Gibbon: Hoolock leuconedys

Skywalker Hoolock Gibbon: Hoolock tianxing

Western Hoolock Gibbon: Hoolock hollock

Siamang: Symphalangus

Siamang: Symphalangus syndactylus

Black Crested Gibbon

Nomascus concolor

Conservation status: critically endangered

• Also called black gibbons, concolor gibbons, Indochinese gibbons, or western black crested gibbons.

• They occur discontinuously in southwestern China, northwestern LAO PDR, and northern Vietnam; they are losing habitat at an alarming rate.

• Sexually dichromatic; males are black and females are golden-buff.

• Populations have decreased 80% in 45 years; only 1,500 mature individuals remain wild.

• Threatened by forest loss and hunting.

• Life span: 25-30 years in the wild.

• High energy food diet: fruits high in sugar such as figs and seasonal fruits.

Cao-Vit Gibbon

Nomascus nasutus

Conservation status: critically endangered

• Named for their distinctive call, cao-vit.

• Also called eastern black crested gibbons.

• Considered extinct until 2002.

• Endemic to China in a very small and restricted karst forest.

• Thanks to coordinated conservation efforts, their population has rebounded and stabilized at an estimated 135 individuals—twice that of when discovered in 2002.

• Vietnamese populations have likely been hunted to extinction.

• Life span: unknown due to small population.

• No sexual dimorphism in size.

Hainan Gibbons

Nomascus hainanus

Conservation status: critically endangered

• The world’s rarest apes and one of the world’s mammals.

• Depleted by hunting and habitat loss, as of early 2024, the total population was 42 individuals (an increase from 37 in 2022).

• Restricted to a small geographic range in the Bawangling National Nature Reserve on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

• In late 2019, a family was spotted living outside the park and is thriving today thanks to intense conservation efforts and community education.

• Life span: 30-40 years in the wild.