If you’ve visited Perth Zoo in the morning, there’s a good chance you’ve seen our Northern White-cheeked Gibbons’ brachiating through the skies along the rope pathways of our world-class Gibbon Crossing habitat.
Northern White-cheeked Gibbons are one of the rarest apes in the world, and with less than 2,000 individuals left in the wild, they are considered critically endangered.
That’s why, as well as working closely with other zoos and wildlife parks to coordinate the pairing and breeding of gibbons in the Australasian region, we also support the largest remaining wild population of Northern White-cheeked Gibbons in Pu Mat National Park, Vietnam.
For 10 years, we've proudly partnered with Fauna & Flora to support critical fieldwork that protects and moniotrs the largest wild population of Northern White-cheeked Gibbons from poachers and traffickers.
Through our partnership, Fauna & Flora are able to monitor the gibbon populations and remove threats to other wildlife in the area, key conservation projects include:
Habitat modelling
Habitat modelling is very important for conservation work. It helps identify the lay of the land and predict whether areas have suitable biodiversity and ecosystems for a particular species.
Building on existing datasets, Fauna & Flora carried out a comprehensive habitat suitability modelling study for Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon populations. Using Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing data, the team mapped current habitat conditions and model habitat suitability based on the ecosystems.
This modelling activity predicted a strong likelihood of suitable white-cheeked gibbon habitat in the region. It found nearly 500km2 of suitable habitat and an estimated 2,200km2 of moderately suitable habitat!
Specialised training
Fauna & Flora have been upskilling their rangers and local community conservation team members, with specialised training on:
- Gibbon identification
- Accoustic and visual monitoring techniques
- Systematic data collection
This upskilling ensures better long-term monitoring of the population of Northern White-cheeked Gibbons in Pu Mat National Park.
Species monitoring
Rather than doing general forest patrols and broad threat monitoring, there's been a shift towards a species-focused approach in Pu Mat National Park.
Efforts are centred on the Nothern White-cheeked Gibbon to ensure all activity is targeted and can have maximum impact.
With this change, rangers have patrolled more than 20,345 square kilometres of forest and had 11 different sightings of 10 different gibbon groups. Plus, 116 beautiful gibbon songs have been recorded in the last 60 audio surveys.
This data collection is invaluable!
Community engagement
With targeted education programs and livelihood imitiatives, Fauna & Flora have increased community awareness and participation in conservation activity!
The team have carried out interactive education sessions with children, and even collaborated with government and local communities to run a targeted snare removal campaign.
This work makes a huge difference to Northern White-cheeked Gibbons and countless other species in Pu Mat National Park, and by protecting forest habitat it also saves many less visible creatures that live there!
How you can help
Help Perth Zoo save wildlife by donating today!
Your donation will support our critical conservation work, protecting wildlife globally.
100% of your tax-deductible donation will help protect wildlife as Perth Zoo covers all donation administration costs.