Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 12:19PM 
Hainan Gibbon Copyright Jessica Bryant 2011
SAVE THE GIBBON CAMPAIGN
The plight of the great apes is well known, but did you know that the gibbon is the most endangered ape of all? All 16 species of gibbon are threatened, including the Hainan black-crested gibbon, which is now thought to number less than 25 in the wild.
There are five types of ape; four of which are considered ‘great’ while the gibbon is categorized as ‘the lesser ape’ a distinction that has caused it to be overlooked in many fundraising and campaigning initiatives.
At a recent event at UCL, colleagues and members of the public attended an evening of interesting and lively discussion on these wonderful and appealing – and sadly hugely threatened – primates. What is it like to search for and study an animal on the brink of extinction? How do conservation organisations go about choosing what to save? What is life like trekking through jungles and swamps looking for an animal that only exists in double figures? If you find it, how would you try and protect it? What are the challenges in communicating conservation messages when it comes to endangered species?
The enthusiastic panel included extinction expert Sam Turvey (Zoological Society of London), Helen Thirlway (Director at International Primate Protection League, UK), gibbonologist Helen Chatterjee (UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment), and conservation ecologist Jessica Bryant (UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment and Zoological Society of London).
Organised by Dr Helen Chatterjee, UCL Genetics, Evolution and Environment and the Grant Museum of Zoology.
For further information contact: h.chatterjee@ucl.ac.uk and visit: www.savethegibbon.org
Alternatively, why not adopt a gibbon today by visiting www.adoptagibbon.com
Please also read an exciting Gibbon blog at: http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/category/zoology/
Supported by the UCL Public Engagement Unit under the Beacons for Public Engagement programme - funded by the UK funding councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust.
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