A New Action Plan to Save the World’s Rarest Apes (cute photo too)

A mother Hainan gibbon and her baby. (Photo: Courtesy Jessica Bryant)


http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/05/22/new-action-plan-save-worlds-rarest-apes-vanishing

May 22, 2015 By John R. Platt

John R. Platt covers the environment, technology, philanthropy, and more for Scientific American, Conservation, Lion, and other publications.

It’s go time to save the world’s rarest ape from extinction.

Only 25 critically endangered Hainan gibbons remain in the forests of China’s Hainan Island, where they have been threatened over the past few decades by rampant deforestation and hunting.

Conservation organizations have been monitoring the gibbons for nearly two decades. But a conservation plan published back in 2003 had little impact, because China’s many government agencies were unable to coordinate their efforts.

Now a new road map has come out for preserving the gibbons’ habitat and boosting their numbers. The work of more than 100 scientists, community leaders, and government policy makers, it contains more than 40 key steps to ensure the species’ long-term survival.

FULL story at link.