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Thriving Javan gibbon population found in West Java forest
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A Javan gibbon swings from tree to tree in the forest of Kampung Cimaranginan in Lengkong Village, Sukabumi, West Java, on Nov. 7, 2020. (kompas.com/Garry Lotulung)
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n expedition team has found a thriving population of the endangered owa jawa (Javan gibbon) in the forests of Mount Sanggabuana in West Java, recording a total of 311 individuals.
Bernard T Wahyu Wiryanta, the expedition’s leader, said on Tuesday that the team had documented a total of 107 groups of Javan gibbon and that the majority were juveniles, with some still being carried by females.
The Sanggabuana Owa Jawa Expedition Team started its 40-day research period on July 31, with two groups combing the forest, hills and pathways in the 16,500-hectare mountain area.
Bernard said the findings showed the Javan gibbons on Mount Sanggabuana were reproducing well.
“In one of the sections of the forest, we would wake up at 5 a.m. in our basecamp in the middle of the forest to the singing of owa jawa from all over the forest,” he told kompas.com.
The Javan gibbon is one of West Java’s endemic primates and is protected under Environment and Forestry Ministerial Regulation No. 106/2018.
It is classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and is considered at high risk of extinction because of the illegal pet trade, hunting, habitat loss and forest fragmentation throughout its range in the provinces of Banten, West Java and Central Java.
