March 2014: Another family of hoolock gibbons, consisting of an adult male and female, and a juvenile male, has been successfully translocated from Dello in northeast India to Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary as part of an ongoing project organised by IFAW
They were one of the 20 stranded families living in the isolated Dello village, where there is no contiguous forests forced them to descend on to the ground for movement, risking their lives as they are not very agile on land.
“Gibbons are highly specialised canopy-dwellers using their long arms for movement along tree branches. Their physical attributes are not suited to walk and they can fall easy prey on ground, so it is very rare to see them descend from the canopy under natural circumstances,” said Dr. Ian Robinson, IFAW Emergency Relief Director.
Six families have so far been moved with the last being carried out in November 2013.
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