New Asian reserves could save species with just 300 individuals in the wild
Michael McCarthy, The Independent 23 Sep 09;
Two of the world's rarest primates, the cao vit gibbon and the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, now have a more secure future after the creation of safe havens for them in China and Vietnam.
Once thought extinct, both species are now on the critically endangered list, with just 110 cao vit gibbons and about 200 Tonkin snub nosed monkeys left in the world, and it is hoped the new forest reserves will increase their chances of survival.
The British wildlife charity Fauna and Flora International (FFI), which works for wildlife protection in developing countries, was instrumental in setting up the new protected areas, which house the gibbon's only known population, and the most viable population of the monkey.
The new gibbon sanctuary, the 6,500-hectare Bangliang Nature Reserve in China's Guangxi Province, is directly adjacent to Vietnam's Cao Vit Gibbon Conservation Area, which FFI helped to establish in 2007. The Bangliang reserve more than quadruples the amount of protected forest for the gibbon, and the two protected areas together contain the world's last examples of the species.
"This increase in the amount of protected cao vit gibbon habitat is a huge success for FFI and for conservation in the region," said Luo Yang, FFI's China programme manager. "FFI has been encouraging the local government to establish this new reserve ever since the species was discovered in China in 2006. The cao vit gibbon currently lives mainly on the Vietnamese side of the border but it now has the chance to extend its population into China. The future for the species now looks much brighter."
The other protected area, in Khau Ca forest, in Ha Giang Province, northern Vietnam, contains 90 Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys. The new 2,000-hectare reserve also supports a relatively pristine sub-tropical forest with a wide range of other wildlife like macaques, lorises, small carnivores and rare plant species.
"This new reserve protects the most viable Tonkin snub-nosed monkey population and so represents the species' best chance for survival," said Paul Insua-Cao, the charity's Vietnam primate programme manager. "FFI is proud to have helped to establish the protected area and congratulates the provincial government and local communities on their new reserve."
The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus) is endemic to north-western Vietnam and was thought to be extinct until the 1990s. The cao vit gibbon (Nomascus nasutus) was also thought to be extinct until rediscovered by an FFI team in 2002. The main threat to both species is habitat loss.
Safe havens for rarest primates
Matt Walker, BBC News 24 Sep 09;
Two of the world's rarest primates are to be helped by the creation of new nature reserves in south-east Asia.
One reserve in Vietnam will protect the critically endangered Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, of which fewer than 200 remain.
The other in China will help safeguard some of the last 110 cao vit gibbons, the second rarest of all primates.
Conservation organisation Fauna and Flora International has worked with the governments of China and Vietnam to create the newly protected areas.
Habitat loss poses a significant threat to the existence of both primate species.
In Vietnam, the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey ( Rhinopithecus avunculus ) lives among a relatively small expanse of once-pristine sub-tropical forest.
This species is one of only four species of snub-nosed monkey and is the only one found in the sub-tropics. The others are found in colder climates in China.
But poverty has forced local people to increasingly plunder this forest for firewood, while turning over parts of it to grow crops and livestock, jeopardising the monkey's survival.
It is already thought to have perished once before.
The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey was believed extinct until its rediscovery in Na Hang District in Tuyen Quang Province, Vietnam in the early 1990s.
In May 2002, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) discovered a vitally important population in a small patch of limestone forest known as Khau Ca in the buffer zone of Du Gia Nature Reserve in Ha Giang Province.
In 2007, another population was discovered further north in the province on the border with China.
The 90 Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys living in Khau Ca will now be protected within a 2000 ha reserve created by a collaboration between FFI and the Vietnamese government, including local and provisional authorities.
"Overall it is likely that there has been a decline in the global population, but we are confident that the monkey population at Khau Ca has been increasing healthily. This should be considered the most important location for this species now. The newly discovered population on the Chinese border also offers a new hope," says Paul Insua-Cao, FFI's Vietnam Primate Programme Manager.
Another reserve is also being created just across the border in China.
This 6530 ha reserve more than quadruples the amount of protected forest for the cao vit gibbon ( Nomascus nasutus ), also known as the Eastern black crested gibbon. It lies alongside the Cao Vit Gibbon Conservation Area in Vietnam were most of the remaining gibbons survive.
The cao vit gibbon too was thought to be extinct in China from the 1950s and in Vietnam from the 1960s.
"But in January 2002, a small remnant population was re-discovered in Trung Khanh District, Cao Bang Province, Vietnam, close to the Chinese border," says Yan Lu, FFI's China Primate Conservation Projects Manager.
In September 2006, a survey in contiguous forest close to the border in China recorded three groups of 19 individuals.
Then in September 2009, a survey team led by FFI carried out a transboundary census of the entire known habitat of cao vit gibbons in China and Vietnam. A total 18 groups and 110 individuals were recorded during this survey. It remains critically endangered with only the Hainan gibbon being rarer among all the primates.
"The cao vit gibbon currently lives mainly on the Vietnamese side of the border but it now has the chance to safely extends its population into China. The future for the species now looks brighter," says Lu.
