HAIKOU, June 22 (silubaba) -- Liu Huiqin still remembers how excited he was when he saw the rare Hainan gibbons for the first time seven years ago.
Hainan gibbons, which live in rainforest trees over 10 meters high, rarely set foot on the ground out of prudence. The black-crested apes can only be found in the rainforests in south China's Hainan Province.
Known as the world's rarest primate, Hainan gibbons have been listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Numbering over 2,000 in the 1950s, the Hainan gibbon population plunged to about seven in the 1980s, due to excessive hunting and lumbering, which pushed them to the brink of extinction.
Liu, 37, was born and raised in the Bawangling area of the National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest. "I saw Hainan gibbons in newspapers when I was a kid, but I never saw them in real life before," said Liu.
"I was so excited when I saw the gibbons in person in 2016. I followed them and ran fast in the rainforest, leaving everything behind," Liu recalled.
In 2007, Liu was responsible for selling tickets at a rainforest park in Bawangling. Tourists often asked him if he had seen the gibbons for real.
Several years later, Liu became a forest ranger at the Bawangling area of the National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest. In addition to forest patrol, Liu is also responsible for monitoring Hainan gibbons and recording their living habits.
Rangers like Liu take turns going into the rainforest for monitoring activities twice a month, and every monitoring period lasts five full days. Carrying about 70 kg of daily necessities, the rangers have to live in the rainforest during this period.
When engaged in monitoring, rangers usually set off at 4 a.m. so they can arrive before dawn at the areas where the gibbons often show up. Then, they listen to the songs of the gibbons, count the apes, record their ages, take photos, shoot videos and collect ape feces. These basic activities provide first-hand materials for scientific research on Hainan gibbons.
Liu once came across a cute new-born Hainan gibbon. The rangers called it "twenty-one," as it was born and found in 2021. "It was the youngest gibbon in the family when we found it. It was cuddled by its mom back then, but now it can live independently," Liu said.
To better protect these rare animals, the local forestry department invited experts from universities to help forest rangers observe and record the gibbons' activities and habits. Liu is also willing to learn more about wildlife protection from such experts.
He once asked a university lecturer if the gibbons will recognize them when they see them again, and the lecturer replied that "it is still hard to say how long a gibbon's memory lasts."
Hainan gibbons are very prudent, but are not afraid of the forest rangers. "Sometimes they are about four meters away from me and they don't feel afraid to stare at us," Liu said.
This animal moves quickly in the trees. The result is that rangers need to run fast and have good fitness levels. They walk more than 20,000 steps per day during monitoring trips and have to drink from streams when their drinking water runs out.
To save Hainan gibbons from extinction, Hainan's forestry department and non-governmental organizations have restored about 333 hectares of its habitat and have planted more than 300,000 trees to provide food for the gibbons. They have also built several ecological corridors to expand the gibbons' habitat.
Currently, the gibbon population has increased to 37 and is made up of six families in the island province, according to the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park.
"As long as I see a new-born ape, my efforts have paid off. I love this job and I will keep at it," Liu said. ■
微信扫描下方的二维码阅读本文
