Muller's Bornean Gibbon by Allison Bettencourt

Muller's Bornean Gibbon

by Allison Bettencourt
November, 2016

The Muller's Bornean Gibbon is rapidly disappearing from the face of the earth.  

Why? Because of us...  

What is a Bornean Gibbon?

This gibbon is considered a lesser ape because of its smaller size. Muller gibbon apes have a smaller body size that ranges from 18-22 inches and weigh between 10-15.5 pounds.   These gibbons mate for life, gestate for 7 months, and then carefully nurture their children for about 7 years.  These furry monkeys defend their family’s territory vehemently with loud singing. The ripe fruit of the forest makes up most of their diet, arguably between 54-75% of it.  The rest of their diet consists of leaves, flowers, seeds, tree bark, and insects.  

Long arms and curved hands allow them to live almost entirely in the trees.  They move swiftly by brachiating, making them harder to study and monitor. 

Where are Muller Bornean Gibbons found? 

Endemic to the island of Borneo in Indonesia, they live in the rainforests that once covered the island.  Their populations have been dwindling, though, and these gibbons live almost solely in protected areas.  No natural environment is safe for them anymore because of the severe destruction of their habitat, due to deforestation, logging, and the development of palm oil plantations.  In the few forests left they are hunted for wildlife trade.  It is estimated that the Muller gibbon populations have decreased over 50% in the last 45 years.  There are simply no more safe rain forests for these monkeys to swing through.

     Borneo

 In 1996, the Muller Bornean gibbon was classified as a low risk/near threatened animal.  

In 2008, they were officially classified as Endangered.  The justification given was mass deforestation of their habitat, as well as illegal pet trade. 

How can we recover the Muller Bornean gibbons? 

One feasible approach would be the recovery plan for the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle.  This beetle has very specific environment needs that are hard to find due to human involvement.  Because of environmental loss and degradation, this beetle is now endangered.  Their recovery plan addresses this issue by working to create “metapopulations in multiple recovery areas”.  Their six-step process includes:

                                                                                                                 1. recovery area protection

                           2. recovery area restoration and management

                                3. Salt Creek Tiger Beetle rearing, propagation, and                

                                                                                                  reintroduction

                                              4. Population and recovery area monitoring

                                5. Outreach and education

                                6. Post-delisting monitoring

These six steps, if applied to Muller’s Bornean gibbons, could effectively save the gibbons from extinction. By protecting forest area and working to restore natural flora and fauna growth, activists can start creating metapopulations in patch patterns.  This allows for the gibbons to keep their social structure of territories defined by families, while allowing the growing young to branch out and mate with other genetically diverse gibbons, thus creating a 

healthy reproduction cycle. 

What can YOU do to help save the Bornean gibbons? 

Palm oil is one of the biggest reasons for deforestation in Borneo.  By being aware of other alternatives to palm oil and working to reduce its use, or reduce our purchasing of items that include palm oil, everyone can take part in helping to save Muller’s Bornean gibbons.

To learn more about saving the Bornean gibbon, as well as other primates, go to

http://www.savetheprimates.org/primatefacts/primates/gibbon 

Resources:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/apes/gibbon/

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/borneo_lowland_forests.cfm

http://www.orangutanrepublik.org/become-aware/biodiversity/other-primates-of-borneo-a-sumatra

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/borneo_forests/borneo_deforestation/

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/10551/0

http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/RP_SCTB_2015,%20July_draft%20for%20public%20review_1.pdf

https://www.earthexpeditions.org/borneo