Hainan gibbons are rare but helpful creatures

Taking action

With increasing national investment in protecting the reserve and wildlife, Hainan gibbons now have a habitat covering an area of about 85,700 hectares, with over 300 staff members from the reserve patrolling the rainforest, observing and protecting the animals.

Great efforts have been made to recover and expand the habitats of the Hainan gibbons. They prefer to live in extensive, intact lowland primary rainforests, but the lumber industry and destruction of crops in the 1980s have pushed them to a higher altitude of about 800 to 1,000 meters. In these areas, there is less of their favorite food, like litchis, grapes, berries and banyan tree leaves. Now, however, thanks to plantation and afforestation, Hainan gibbons have started to return to their traditional lowland forest home, which offers more abundant food and warmer temperatures.

Forty years ago, Bawangling formed a monitoring team, which consists of forest rangers and experienced villagers. The mountain is patrolled twice each month, and each patrol will last for at least 10 days.

The members of the monitoring team, like Zheng and Ni, will get up at 4 am every day. Science and technology help to scope out and predict locations where they may be able to observe the gibbons, and then they'll wait for them to start howling at around 6 am, before taking photos and recording the lives of the gibbons. Hainan gibbons will shout loudly several times before 11 am.

"We tend to not interrupt the gibbons, but sometimes it's inevitable," says Qi. "Interestingly, different family groups show different traits. Some gibbons are already used to being tracked and are no longer afraid when members of the monitoring team approach gently to within two or three meters, while other groups remain wary."

Since 2019, more research institutes, such as Sun Yat-sen University, Beijing Forestry University and Hainan University, have conducted research on Hainan gibbons in the Bawangling National Nature Reserve, including studying their behavior, mating patterns, droppings and the sounds they make. International organizations, such as the Zoological Society of London, have shown an interest in the work.

A system of real-time monitoring and livestreaming may be adopted to allow more research institutes and the public to watch and follow the Hainan gibbons, according to the Bawangling National Nature Reserve.