Silvery Gibbon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Silvery Gibbon^[1]

Conservation status

Critically endangered (IUCN) ^[2]

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Primates
Family:	Hylobatidae
Genus:	Hylobates
Species:	H. moloch

Binomial name

Hylobates moloch
(Audebert, 1798)

The Silvery Gibbon (Hylobates moloch) is a primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family. Their skin is bluish gray colored with a dark grey or black cap. Like all gibbons they do not have a tail and their arms are very long compared to their body. They reach an average weight of 8 kg.

The Silvery Gibbon lives exclusively on the island of Java, where it inhabits deeply hidden portions of the rain forests. It is diurnal and arboreal, climbing trees skillfully and brachiating through the forests. Its diet consists of fruits, leaves and flowers.

On average every three years the female, after a seven month gestation, births a single young. The offspring is nursed for about 18 months and lives with the family group until it is fully mature at about 8 years.

The Silvery Gibbon ranks among the most threatened primates, since the island of Java is very closely settled the natural range of the species is pushed into ever smaller areas. One estimate says that there are no more than 2000 animals scattered among various reservations. Several zoos operate breeding programs, but the survival of this species is questionable.

Like all gibbon species it lives together in pairs and stakes out a territory that the pair strongly defends. The Silvery Gibbon has relatively small territories of about 42 acres (17 ha). Females sing great calls to declare their territory several times a day and if strangers are spotted it is the duty of the male in the pair to scare them off with a show of loud screams.

There are two subspecies of the Silvery Gibbon:^[3]

Western Silvery Gibbon or Western Javan Gibbon, Hylobates moloch moloch
Eastern Silvery Gibbon or Central Javan Gibbon, Hylobates moloch pongoalsoni

[edit] References

^ Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 180. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
^ Eudey et al (2000). Hylobates moloch. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Listed as Critically Endangered (CR A1cd, C2a v2.3)
^ Geissmann, Thomas. Gibbon Systematics and Species Identification. Retrieved on 2006-04-13.