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Animal profile

Northern white-cheeked gibbon

Nomascus leucogenys

MammaliaEvergreen and semi-evergreen broadleaf forest, mostly on hill slopesCritically Endangered

Field profile

The northern white-cheeked gibbon is a crested gibbon in which males are black with bold white cheek patches and females are buff-golden with a dark crown. Groups occasionally include more than one adult female, which is unusual for gibbons. Nearly all remaining animals live in Laos and Viet Nam.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2026-06-09

Northern white-cheeked gibbon

This gibbon has vanished from China

Northern white-cheeked gibbons once sang in the forests of southern Yunnan. Repeated surveys since the late 2000s have failed to find any, and the species is now generally considered extinct in China, surviving only in Laos and Viet Nam.

Read with evidence →

Northern white-cheeked gibbon | Daily Animal Facts