Celebrating International Gibbon Day in the city of Palangka Raya

The third International Gibbon Day was held on 24 October this year. To celebrate this special day, Borneo Nature Foundation hosted an event in the centre of Palangka Raya city; home of BNF’s head office and only 25km away from the Sabangau Forest (one of BNF’s main field sites).
This event was held to increase public awareness about gibbons and to introduce gibbons to the community as one of the important primate species on Borneo. We also want to encourage the public to participate in protecting gibbons and their forest habitat.

There are a total of 20 recognised gibbon species. Sixteen of them are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Four are listed as Critically Endangered, 11 as Endangered, and one as Vulnerable. They live in tropical and subtropical rainforests from eastern Bangladesh and northeastern India to southern China and Indonesia.

Four species of gibbons can be found on the island of Borneo. The white-bearded gibbon is a species of gibbon that can be found in the Sabangau Forest. It is also found in other forests in Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan, but worryingly their conservation status is currently Endangered.
During the International Gibbon Day event local musicians performed, who are concerned about the environment and use music to share important conservation messages. Herman and Trvekvli x JeLoDee are musicians from Palangka Raya who incorporate environmental issues into their lyrics.

We also provided information boards about gibbons and hosted a discussion and Q&A session with Azis K, BNF’s Gibbon Project Coordinator. At the end of the event, we had a gibbon quiz for the visitors. All the questions tested their knowledge to see what they had learnt during the event.
Through public engagement events like this, we hope the people of Borneo will support us and participate in the conservation of gibbons and all the other wildlife found on this diverse and unique island.

Happy International Gibbon Day!(DN)

Left to right: Herman – Trvekvli x JeLoDee performance
Photo by Duncan Murrell/BNF