Hoolock Gibbon

• The conservation status of India’s only ape was a cause for concern at a global event on Hoolock gibbons held in China.
• Gibbons, the smallest and fastest of all apes, live in tropical and subtropical forests in the southeastern part of Asia.

ABOUT HOOLOCK GIBBON

• The hoolock gibbon, unique to India’s northeast, is one of 20 species of gibbons on Earth.
• The estimated population of hoolock gibbons is 12,000.
• Like all apes, they are extremely intelligent, with distinct personalities and strong family bonds.
• Threat– primarily from the felling of trees for infrastructure projects. 
• It is categorised into Western Hoolock Gibbon and Eastern Hoolock Gibbon.
  • Interestingly 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 eastern hoolock gibbon (Hoolock leuconedys) found in a specific region of Arunachal Pradesh and the western hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) distributed elsewhere in the northeast.
• IUCN Red list categorises
  • the western hoolock gibbon as ‘endangered’ and
  • the eastern hoolock gibbon as ‘vulnerable’.