Skywalker Gibbons, New Species Discovered Just 4 Years Ago, Already China's Most Endangered Species
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Cai Zhihong, a forest ranger and part of the Lisu ethnic minority indigenous to this region, spends nearly all his time in the reserve. He began working here almost 30 years ago, preventing poaching and helping scientists collect data on the Gaoligong’s gibbons for less than a dollar a day, then later became an instrumental part of gibbon research and conservation efforts as the most senior ranger. Four years ago, an international team led by Chinese scientist Fan Pengfei announced that it had discovered a new species with the help of Cai Zhihong and other rangers: the Skywalker hoolock gibbon (Hoolock tianxing). Overnight, the creature became one of China’s most endangered species, pushing conservation efforts in Cai Zhihong’s beloved Gaoligong to the forefront of public attention.
The Gaoligong Mountains, at the southeastern extent of the Himalaya, are home to the world’s highest-elevation and highest-latitude tropical rainforests. Mostly situated in China’s southwest Yunnan Province and extending northward into Myanmar, they cradle more than 4,000 plant species, 500 species of birds, and 154 species of mammals. They also sit within the Three Parallel Rivers UNESCO World Heritage Site, China’s most biodiverse region. Scientists believe that Skywalker hoolock gibbons diverged from their nearest relatives about 500,000 years ago when the waters of Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River separated them.
Skywalkers are covered in short fur, nearly jet black on males and beige on females. Unlike other gibbon species, they have thin white eyebrows and darker beards. But, like all gibbons, they have no tail, and instead use their long arms for balance when navigating the treetops.
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But the discovery had a dark side: It meant Skywalker gibbons were the only species of the genus Hoolock within China. Scientists estimate that there are just 106 to 138 left in the country, living in three separate clusters from the Gaoligong to the Yunnan-Myanmar border. These subpopulations are separated by impassable 60- to 100-kilometer stretches of agricultural land and towns devoid of contiguous forest. Within these subpopulations, many family groups and individuals are isolated. This makes it even more difficult for them to interbreed and share genes, further threatening the species’ future. In 2019, the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added the Hoolock tianxing to its Red List as “Endangered” and “Decreasing,” as it had with the two other species in the genus—Hoolook hoolock (listed as “Endangered”) and Hoolock leucodenys (listed as “Vulnerable”)—which are dispersed across India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Soon after, the IUCN listed Skywalker gibbons among the world’s 25 most endangered primates.
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https://www.biographic.com/a-new-hope/
