Gibbons: Hylobatidae - Physical Characteristics, Behavior And Reproduction, Gibbons And People, Conservation Status, Pileated Gibbon (hylobates Pileatus): Species Accounts - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DIET
Gibbons are found in Southeast Asia, including China, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Gibbons prefer the upper forest canopy, where fruits are abundant and spreading branches allow for continuous travel. They also thrive in surviving areas of forests that have been logged.
Ripe fruits are gibbons' main diet. Figs are their favorite. They also feed on leaves, flowers, buds, shoots, bird eggs, young birds, and insects.
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Gibbons have a thick coat that ranges in color from black to silvery gray to ash blond. They have a slender body and no tail. The bare face is framed in white fur or other markings. The extremely long arms, with hooklike fingers, are used for brachiating (BRAKE-ee-ate-ing), or swinging from branch to branch. Scientists consider gibbons as the only true brachiators, having powerful shoulder joints …
Gibbons are predominantly arboreal (tree-dwelling), defending their territory by chasing intruders and shaking branches. They sing to advertise ownership. Gibbons brachiate by grasping one branch after another or by propelling themselves through the air, loosening their grasp. They walk upright on wide branches or on the ground, arms held overhead to avoid tripping. They are diurnal (active during…
Gibbons are popular zoo animals. The Ibans, the native people of Borneo, believe gibbons are human reincarnation, or the reappearance of a loved one's soul in the animal's body. Infants are captured for the pet trade. …
The IUCN lists the Moloch gibbon and the eastern black gibbon as Critically Endangered, facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild, due to hunting, as well as habitat loss and degradation from logging and human settlement. The hoolock gibbon and the black crested gibbon are listed as Endangered, facing a very high risk of extinction, due to habitat loss and degradation from human acti…
Physical characteristics: Pileated gibbons have dense, woolly fur. Males are black, with a black face framed in white. Hands and feet are white. Females are silvery beige or ash blond, with a black face and chest. The top of females' head is also black. The body is slender and the small head is rounded. Very long arms have hooklike fingers for brachiation. Thick skin pads line the rears for…
Physical characteristics: Lar gibbons have thick, shaggy fur that is dark brown, beige, or a combination of both. The hands and feet are white. The black naked face is surrounded by a ring of white hair. Extremely long arms end in slender fingers that hook over branches when brachiating. The buttocks have thickened pads, adapted for prolonged sitting while asleep. Males weigh 11 to 16.8 pounds (5 …
Physical characteristics: Siamangs are the largest gibbons, weighing about 18 to 29 pounds (8 to 13 kilograms), with a head and body length of 29.5 to 35.5 inches (75 to 90 centimeters). Their black fur is long and shaggy, making them look larger. The face is reddish brown. Both sexes have a pinkish throat sac that can be inflated to magnify the siamangs' booming and barking calls. Thick sk…
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