Artificial Rope Bridges Are Lifelines for World’s Rarest Primate

Adult female Hainan gibbon is golden yellow with a black crown patch, while immature gibbons are black regardless of their gender, resembling that of an adult male. Credit: Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden.

The world’s most critically endangered primate, the Hainan gibbon, is hanging on by a thread. The last surviving population is restricted to a single patch of forest on Hainan Island, China. So when a landslide created a large gap in the canopy of the gibbons’ forest habitat, scientists took action and built them a bridge. Now, they report the results of this conservation intervention. The findings suggest that ‘bridging the gap’ can be a simple and effective way of giving wildlife a helping hand.

Read the story at National Geographic news: Only 30 of these primates remain on Earth. This simple rope bridge may help.