Natural curiosity

Yan says there was a time when poaching was the biggest threat to wildlife in China. But, Yan adds, as the laws have been constantly improving and public awareness of the importance of protection has evolved, there is less and less poaching.

"Now the main threat to wildlife is habitat loss and degradation," she says.

This is especially true for gibbons. The species requires habitat quality, a complete primeval forest system to contain their necessities of survival－food, trees, sleep and a connected canopy.

"The habitat protection, and human needs and the development of cities and towns can hardly be fully coordinated, and habitat recovery needs time to achieve results," Yan says.

"Under the circumstances that the wildlife habitat and human living space have already intertwined, it's worth to discuss how to keep the biodiversity," she adds. "We need to find a balanced model between protection and development."

She thinks it's important to study gibbons as they are a good check sample for human society. However, it's quite challenging to study gibbons. Unlike birds that you could find their nests or leopard which you could place an infrared camera, gibbons need to be followed by human, she explains.