Guwahati: The Western Hoolock Gibbon, India’s only Ape species, has been named one of the 25 most endangered primates at the 30th Congress of The International Primatological Society (IPS) held in Madagascar, where Dr. Dilip Chetry went as India’s representative
Dr. Dilip Chetry is a senior wildlife biologist, Director and Head of the Primate Research and Conservation Division in Aaranyak, a biodiversity conservation organisation in Assam, and IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group represented India at the 30th Congress of The International Primatological Society (IPS) held in Antananarivo, Madagascar, held from July 20 to 25.
These Gibbon populations In India reside in the Brahmaputra River and east of the Dibang River across seven northeastern States – Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura and are native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India, and parts of Myanmar
Dr. Chetry recommends restoring degraded habitats, creating ecological corridors, scientific monitoring, capacity-building for forest frontline staff, and sustained community engagement. He also urges the Indian government to recognise the Western Hoolock Gibbon as a flagship species for biodiversity conservation in the region.
The Hoolock Gibbon faces habitat loss due to encroachment, unregulated resource extraction, infrastructure development, tea plantations, shifting cultivation, fragmentation, hunting, and the illegal wildlife trade. Cases of local extinction have already been observed in fragmented forest patches of the northeast, reflecting a steady population decline,” as mentioned by Dr Chetry. He proposed launching a national-level “Project Gibbon” — modelled after Project Tiger and Project Elephant — to safeguard the future of India’s only ape.