By Aditi Patil:
Have you ever heard of Hoolock Hoolock? Or maybe Hoolock Leuconedys? No, these are not fantastical creatures, they’re the names of the only apes found in India. (That’s right, langurs and rhesus monkeys, usually called bandar, are not apes). The forests of North East India are home to extraordinary biodiversity, the gibbons being one of the many species who call it their home. We’re talking about the western Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock Hoolock) and the eastern Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock Leuconedys). And who is keeping them from going endangered, is an even more fascinating story. Read on to find out more.
In the forests, they are the first ones to wake up at the crack of dawn with loud chitchats. With long and slender arms, Hoolock gibbons are swift creatures, traversing trees, barely needing to step on the ground. However, this behaviour which comes naturally to them, has also led to their decline. They can travel distances upto 1.6 km every day in search of fruits and flowers, but only from tree to tree. So any fragmentation in the forest canopy – roads, railways, tea gardens, infrastructure, etc proves fatal for them. Populations of western hoolock gibbons have been on the decline for the last 50 years, and this species is now considered to be one of the most endangered 25 primate species in the world featuring as ‘Endangered’ in the ICUN Red List.
In India, it is listed on Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972. The Government of Assam upgraded the status of the Hoollongapar Reserve Forest in the Jorhat District of Assam to a Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in 1997, making this the first Protected Area ever named after a primate species. Indigenous communities of Tinsukia district of Assam consider gibbons as part of their family since they have coexisted with humans since time immemorial.
Stories about gibbons have been passed down from generation to generation, giving the species cultural importance in tribal folklore. Barekuri in Tinsukia has proven to be a model of peaceful coexistence between humans and hoolock gibbons, where villagers have been protecting the species with little government support. Villagers count 22 Hoolock gibbons in the area, living in privately owned groves and orchards.
Manipuris regard gibbons as their totem animal. In Meghalaya’s Garo hills, the sacred groves are a safe sanctuary to gibbons and people regard them their ancestors.
The Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh houses a close cousin of the Western Hoolock gibbon, the Eastern Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock Leuconedys). This species is listed by the IUCN as vulnerable and is found mostly in Myanmar. Community-based conservation efforts by NGOs like Sanctuary Nature Foundation have been successful in villages bordering Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary.
In one such village of Abango, Idu Mishimi, subsistence farmers have left a forested patch of this farm uncultivated so that a family of Eastern Hoolock gibbons can continue to live there. Idu Mishmi communities in Arunachal Pradesh believe the gibbons to be their ancestors. It is considered a bad omen to kill one, and so it is never hunted here. How many of us would let go of economic benefits today for a fellow species?
This article is part of a series where we bring to you the amazing world of wildlife coexisting with Forest Dwelling and Adivasi or tribal communities. Far too often, we are told that forest-dwelling communities pose a threat to wildlife, through our series we would like to highlight that it is quite the opposite. Beautiful coexistence prevails in India’s forests, and it is time that we appreciate it and vow not to disturb the crucial role of indigenous peoples in wildlife and forest conservation.