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Only 30 of these primates remain on Earth. This simple rope bridge may help.
The human-made bridge helped Hainan gibbons traverse their fragmented habitat—but it's only a short-term solution, conservationists warn.
The world’s most critically endangered primate, the Hainan gibbon, is barely surviving. Only 30 remain on the planet, all restricted to a single patch of forest on China’s Hainan Island.
Because the species is so precarious, each gibbon’s survival is vital, says Bosco Pui Lok Chan, who manages the Hainan Gibbon Conservation Project, run by the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, in Hong Kong.
At home in the canopy, these acrobats use their long arms to swing from tree to tree, enabling them to easily gather forest fruits. They’re fearful of moving on the ground, which is why decades of forest fragmentation from logging and agricultural activities has isolated groups from one another, causing them to
