Animal profile

Hainan gibbon

Nomascus hainanus

MammaliaTropical montane and lowland evergreen forestCritically Endangered

Field profile

The Hainan gibbon is a crested gibbon confined to a single forest reserve on a Chinese island. Males are black and females golden with a dark crown. The entire world population lives within a few square kilometres of hill forest and is monitored individually.

Published field notes

2025-12-01

Hainan gibbon

Every Hainan gibbon alive can be counted

The world's rarest ape survives as a few dozen animals in one Chinese reserve. The population is small enough that surveyors track named groups and individual births, a precision no other primate census can match.

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