Written by Ika, Unyil, and Azis K (BNF Primate Behaviour Team)
November was a tough month for the Primate Team in Sebangau National Park. With unpredictable weather and rain every morning; it was hard for the team to search and find primates in the forest. However, the team never falters. They woke up very early every day to search, ready to follow when they find primates, whilst looking forward to all the wonderful things that the forest has to offer.
We had a plan to find the gibbon group called ‘Karate’ during the second week of November, after we recorded behavioural data from Group C the previous week. We waited in a muddy transect, near Karate’s home range, waiting for their singing, so we could then locate the group. But, we had no luck that day, no gibbons were singing, the weather was bad, and after a few hours of waiting, came heavy rain. It blocked our view and made it harder to find the gibbons. Thinking that it was impossible to find them in that condition, we decided to go back to our camp.
Photo by Unyil|BNF|CIMTROP
The next day the team started searching again, wishing the sky to hold the rain back for the day so we could find Karate Group. We waited until they sang, and finally we found them!!
After we arrived in their sleeping area, we tried to find Chun Li (adult female gibbon) who was our focal of the day. While searching for the group, we got a glance of Jet Li (another adult female) holding something. So we decided to take a closer look!
To our surprise, we saw a small baby gibbon holding onto Jet Li’s body!! That day all BNF’s staff celebrated the new life in Sebangau National Park, a little gibbon baby, and we named him ‘Jane Li’ (pronounced Jan Lee).
Some interesting things happened, following the presence of the new baby. Jet Li, who is normally very jumpy around people, seems calmer. Before the baby, Jet Li was very hard to observe, always running and making noises around people, but now she is calmer, we can even observe her long enough to take photos and videos!
The new baby has also affected the group dynamics, Caro Li (Jet Li’s first daughter) who used to stay close to Jet Li, now keeps her distance and is starting to get closer to Chun Li and her daughter, Elen Li.
It is a very interesting story as it’s unusual for gibbons to have six individuals and two adult females in one family group. Usually, gibbons live in groups consisting of an adult pair and their young offspring. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Karate Group to see how this group develops and if any family dramas unfold!
