“The fastest-moving tree-dwelling mammal”

Gibbons are tree-dwelling apes that live in Asia and Indonesia. Also known as lesser apes as distinct from great apes, gibbons are quick and agile, brachiating through the treetops at speeds up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph). There are 18 distinct species of this arboreal, or tree-dwelling, mammal, including white-handed, slamang, and lar gibbons. The majority of gibbon species are endangered, and some are critically endangered.

Incredible Gibbon Facts!

• Depending on gender and species, gibbons weigh 6-9kg.
• They live up to 25 years
• Gibbons have extra-long arms and powerful legs for swinging and leaping from tree to tree
• Gibbons are better at walking on two feet than any other ape or monkey

Gibbon Scientific Name

The scientific name for gibbon is Hylobatidae. The Hylobatidae ape family contains the genera Hylobates, Hoolock, Nomascus, and Symphalangus.

Dwarf gibbons, whose scientific name is Hylobates, includes the species Hylobates lar, Bornean white-bearded, Agile, Mueller’s, Silvery, Pleated, Kloss’s gibbon.

Hoolock includes the species Western hoolock, Eastern hoolock and Skywalker hoolock gibbon.

The species of crested gibbons, whose scientific name is Nomascus, consists of the Northern buff-cheeked, Black-crested, Eastern black-crested, Hainan black-crested, Northern white-cheeked, Southern white-cheeked, and Yellow-cheeked gibbon.

The Symphalangus genus contains one species, siamang gibbons.

Gibbon Appearance

These are light, agile apes. Their height ranges from 15 to 36 inches (40 to 90 cm), depending on their species. The largest gibbons, the siamang, are about half the height of their human counterparts. All species have small heads and smooth, apelike faces framed with fur. Just like the great apes and unlike monkeys, they do not have tails.

One of their most noticeable features is their uncommonly long arms, which they use to brachiate through the canopies of trees that serve as their habitat. When these apes walk upright, they hold their arms up by their heads to keep their balance.

These animals have specialized wrist joints that allow them to move their hands from side to side as well as back to front. This promotes fast, efficient progress from branch to branch.

The hands and feet of these lesser apes are elongated. Each hand has a deep cleft that helps them grip strongly onto branches. The siamang gibbon, which is among the largest types of these apes, has two toes on each foot that are permanently fused together.

Their fur can be any color of brown or black, sometimes mixed with white. Their faces, feet and hands often have contrasting markings, as in the Bornean white-bearded or yellow-cheeked species.

Gibbon Behavior

These lesser apes spend the greater part of their lives aloft in the rainforest canopy. Their long reach and powerful legs make them the world’s greatest brachiators. They can travel quickly, spanning distances of up to 50 feet in a single leap. Occasionally, they will miss a branch or misjudge a distance between trees, and this often results in broken bones

They venture to the forest floor only occasionally. Perhaps they need to look for food or flee from another animal in the treetops. When they are on the ground, these lesser apes often travel on two feet, holding their arms above their heads to stay upright.

All the gibbon species are vocal. Their voices are musical and can travel considerable distances. They use sound to locate other gibbons, warn away intruders and woo their mates. The wooing song, often a duet with the intended mate, is known as the great call.

Siamang gibbons and other species have uniquely developed throat sacs. When the animal inhales, filling the throat sac with air, it amplifies its call through the tropical forest, helping locate other apes, mark territorial boundaries or join in a mating duet. The largest species, the siamang, has a loud voice that travels up to two miles.

In general, these primates mate for life. They live in small, nuclear families made up of a mated pair and one juvenile offspring. Although they sleep in the trees, these animals do not build nests like other apes. Once the young one matures, it ventures out to form its own family group.

Gibbon Habitat

These animals inhabit the rain forests of Southeast Asia in these countries:

• Bangladesh
• Borneo
• Cambodia
• China
• India
• Indonesia
• Java
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• Sumatra
• Thailand
• Vietnam

These arboreal animals need a dense forest canopy that provides food, shelter and a means of transportation. Various species live in different regions such as mountains or valleys, but they all share a preference for treetop habitats.

Gibbon Diet

These animals mostly eat fruit and vegetation that are available in the rain forest canopy. They are omnivores, however, so they do eat meat occasionally such as insects, bird eggs and small animals.

Gibbon Predators and Threats

Large cats native to Southeast Asia, such as clouded leopards and tigers, prey on these lesser apes. Big snakes and eagles also pose a threat to these arboreal apes. One significant study of Maroon Langur monkeys in Borneo showed that white-bearded gibbons made warning calls to alert their own species as well as other animals like the monkeys when predators were nearby, giving them the chance to seek safety.

Humans hunt these animals in the wild to sell to zoos. People in some cultures purchase parts of the animals for healing or eating.

The biggest threat by far, however, is human encroachment on the rain forests that they call home. As civilization claims more and more of these forests, these animals have less food and rapidly shrinking habitats, which is the primary reason so many of the species are endangered.

Gibbon Reproduction, Babies and Lifespan

The female gives birth to a single offspring at a time. They may have as many as six babies over the course of their breeding period. Females in the wild reach sexual maturity around eight years of age while males mature a bit later, around 10 years old. These arboreal mammals take a single mate at a time, but they may change partners once their offspring have grown up.

Female pregnancy lasts six and a half months. Once she gives birth, both parents care for the baby until it is old enough to leave home.

On average, these animals in their natural habitat live approximately 30-35 years. Those in captivity tend to live longer, up to 50 years. The longest-lived individual on record, a Mueller’s gibbon named Nippy at New Zealand’s Wellington Zoo, died at age 60.

Gibbon Population

All gibbon species are dwindling. The majority of the 18 species are in danger of extinction. In fact, less than 25 Hainan crested gibbons of the Nomascus genus remain, making this species the most critically endangered primate on earth. Other types that are critically endangered also belong to the Nomascus genus, including:

• Black-crested –
• Northern white-cheeked –
• Cao-Vit gibbon

Those species with endangered status are:

• Western hoolock

• Agile

• Bornean white-bearded

• Kloss’s

• Lar

• Silvery

• Mueller’s Bornean

• Pileated

• Abbott’s gray

• Northern gray

• Yellow-cheeked

• Southern white-cheeked

• Siamang

The eastern hoolock gibbon is vulnerable but not yet endangered. Skywalker hoolock and northern yellow-cheeked gibbons require further study to determine their status.

Gibbons in the Zoo

Many zoos in major US cities have these animals on exhibit. Some of the species you can see in these zoos include the lar, the siamang, and the white-cheeked gibbon. Other types of these tree-dwellers in zoos are the Javan gibbon, the eastern hoolock and the pileated gibbon.

In Canada, the Toronto Zoo has white-handed gibbons. A gray female gibbon at the Assiniboine Zoo in Winnipeg lived to be 50 years old. Now, the zoo is home to a family of white-handed gibbons. Many other zoos throughout Canada have gibbons too.

In fact, zoos throughout the world have different gibbon species. The most common in captivity are the siamang, the white-cheeked and the lar..

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