13 February 2009
Guardian Unlimited
Only 110 of the ultra-rare cao vit gibbons remain in the world – and scientists on the Vietnamese-Chinese border have photographed a new baby with its mother.
After the damage done to Australian wildlife this week and last year's warnings of near-extinct species, it's cheering to see any signs of conservation success.
Today's is this lovely baby cao vit gibbon, spotted on the China-Vietnam border, following the other exciting primate finding last year there.
It's an incredibly rare sighting for a species that's classified as "critically endangered" and has just 110 estimated apes left on the planet.
Although the sex of this baby cao vit isn't known, if it's a male it will retain its black fur as an adult. If it's a female it will later develop the spectacular golden coat of its mother.
As well as the dubious distinction of being one of the planet's most endangered apes, Cao vit gibbons are famous for having the longest arms of any primate relative to their body size. They also have a haunting bird-like call, as you can hear on this video by Flora & Fauna International.
Like many mammals, the main threat to the species is a loss of habitat as the gibbons' karst limestone forests get turned over to agriculture and other land use. Flora & Fauna International continues to work with locals in the region to prevent further deforestation.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!