BBC Knowledge Asia Edition 3

ABOVE LEFT:

This bridge at

Hollongapar has

been built to

enable gibbons

to cross railway

tracks, uniting

fragmented

populations

ABOVE RIGHT:

Females are a

golden/coppery

brown, making

the sexes easy to

distinguish even

when crossing the

treetops at speed

Conservationists are cautious about

the possibility of translocating isolated

groups of gibbons to repopulate

protected areas. Tarali Goswami, a tour

guide and World Wildlife Fund volunteer,

says: “The hoolock gibbon is intelligent,

with a complex social life – its mating and

child-rearing behaviour is similar to ours.

So you can’t just translocate this species

as we have the rhinos of Assam. Rhinos

are primitive and easy to catch, but hoolocks

are top-canopy dwellers and move quickly.”

Samuel Turvey, senior researcher at the Zoological

Institute of London, also points out that so far such

attempts have been few and far between. “Partly this is

because there’s a preference for ‘hands-off’ conservation

management. But forests across Asia are becoming

increasingly fragmented, so this sort of approach is likely to

become more widely used in future.”

TRANSLOCATION: CAN WILD GIBBONS BE

MOVED TO SAFER AREAS?

s about

g isolated

ulate

wami, a tour

nd volunteer,

s intelligent,

s mating and

milar to ours.

this species

sam. Rhinos

ch, but hoolocks

d move quickly.”

rcher at the Zoological

nts out that so far such

far between. “Partly this is

e for ‘hands-off’ conservation

ross Asia are becoming

this sort of approach is likely to

n future.”

CAN WILD GIBBONS BE

REAS?

HOOLOCK X3: DHRITIMAN MUKHERJEE; BRIDGE: ALI WOOD

by habitat fragmentation because they cannot move easily

between isolated patches of forest.

Western hoolock gibbons are restricted to north-east

India, China, Burma (Myanmar) and Bangladesh, and their

total population has shrunk from 100,000 to fewer than

5,000 over the past 40 years. But at Hollongapar they have

increased from 63 to 130 in the past decade. Yet even here

habitat fragmentation has an impact.

Running east to west through the middle of the forest is

an old railway line, laid by the British, which cuts off three

of the area’s 26 gibbon families. Though pig-tailed macaques

and langurs happily cross the tracks, the gibbons keep to the

canopy, away from predators such as pythons and leopards.

Borah thinks that there could be a solution, which he

hopes will see the gibbon gene pools mix after a century

apart. He takes me on a walk along the old railway line,

past two rhesus monkeys playing on the tracks. We also see

bamboo trampled by Asiatic elephants – sadly five members

of the forest’s 50-strong elephant population have been

killed by trains in recent years.

We come to a stop at a 15m-high iron ‘bridge’ built by

the North-East Frontier Railway. It’s positioned in the spot

where gibbon families call to each other across the tracks,

and the structure – which will soon be covered in vines – is

designed to allow them to cross. Dilip Chetry, the sanctuary’s

director, says that the gibbons are already investigating

the bridge, and he hopes they will go on to breed. But he

cautions that the southern population may have developed

serious genetic problems. It’s a familiar situation – small

populations lose genetic diversity

HEADQUARTERS OF HOPE

Back at Hollongapar HQ – a modest room next to the

derelict railway station – Ghosh outlines the centre’s other

initiatives to conserve western hoolock gibbons. It is

carrying out job swaps with foresters from neighbouring

states, and offering work placements to students. But the

threats are many. As well as facing deforestation, hoolock

gibbons are killed for food and their blood, which is

believed to give strength to the foetus of a pregnant woman.

Wildlife crime is taken very seriously in India, and hoolock

gibbons are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

But Ghosh doesn’t believe that the ‘shoot to kill’ policy his

country uses on rhino poachers will work here. “This forest is an

island,” he says. “We are surrounded by villagers, and they play

a vital role in conservation. Yes, by means of the gun you can

protect the forest, but how many people must you kill first? We

are trying to raise awareness that this forest is everyone’s property.

It belongs to the villagers, and we want them on our side.”

The Indian government is encouraging villagers to earn

money through ecotourism – for example, by guiding

tourists and offering home-stays to visitors – rather than

poaching. Organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund

are also working in the region, reducing human–elephant

conflict and translocating rhinos. Hoolock gibbons might

benefit indirectly from some of these initiatives, but there are

no plans to also translocate them to protected areas.

“Species translocation is a complex business, and in