Population of rare gibbons rises in SW China

The population of eastern hoolock gibbons, an endangered species, has increased in southwest China's Yunnan Province, according to a new report.

A recent survey found there are no more than 200 eastern hoolock gibbons living in China, mainly in the Yingjiang County of Dehong Prefecture, Longyang District in Baoshan City and in Tengchong City, said Fan Pengfei, a wild animal protection expert at the Dali University in Yunnan.

The number of the gibbons in Dehong Prefecture has increased from around 60 in 2008 to present nearly 80, Fan said.

Thanks to the improved local environment and enhanced public consciousness of conservation, the population of the hoolock gibbons in Dehong Prefecture could see an increase, said Zhang Youbing, an official at the prefecture's forestry bureau.

"Though the number of the rare species has increased, we still have a long way to go to protect them," said Fan, adding that the number of the gibbons in Baoshan City seems to have decreased.

Destruction of their primeval forest habitats and illegal poaching could threaten their survival and reproduction, according to Fan.

The eastern hoolock gibbons, an endangered primate only found in southwestern Yunnan, northeast India and northern Myanmar, is under top grade national-level protection in China and has also been listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Endi