In May 2005 the OuTrop team embarked on a major new project – to habituate gibbons in a tropical peat-swamp forest. Many said it could not be done, we stubbornly disagreed!
We began by mapping the home ranges of the gibbons in the main study area so we could target which groups we could habituate.
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| Cokolat (adult female in Group C) in 2007. Photo by OuTrop |
In July 2005, we were delighted to have our first long follow (over 5 hours) when Cokolat, the adult female of Group C, finally allowed us to follow her and her family. This was a major achievement and an enormous privilege for the whole team.
10 years later, Cokolat is still head of a successful family and our incredible researchers are able to follow the gibbons from sleeping tree to sleeping tree (about 10 hours) almost every day! We have watched infants grow and disperse, witnessed interesting behaviours and have had the pleasure of hearing the gibbons sing almost every morning.
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| Dr Susan Cheyne (OuTrop Director of Gibbon and Felid Research) in the early days of collecting gibbon data. Photo by OuTrop |
Over the years we have collated data on more than 8 gibbon groups, 34 individuals and over 3,000 hours of following gibbons. We are the second longest running, full-time gibbon research and conservation project in the world. That deserves a hoot!
Join us to celebrate our anniversary as well as the IUCN Year of the Gibbon 2015!
