gibbon episode

The host of the Wildlife Wonders Podcast welcomes listeners and asks them to follow the podcast on various platforms. She mentions that last week's episode discussed primates and today's episode will focus on gibbons, the lesser known apes. There are about 20 species of gibbons, each with different characteristics and vocalizations. Gibbons are found in Southeast Asia, mainly in rainforests, and they are arboreal animals. They have a varied diet and are known for their long arms and dense hair. They have throat sacs that amplify their loud calls, which are often performed as duets. There are differences in size and fur color between male and female gibbons. Gibbons are known for their brachiating behavior and often walk with their arms in the air. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Wildlife Wonders Podcast. I am your host, the one, the only, Seriana, coming back for another episode on another week. Thank you guys for making this possible, tuning in, sharing with friends, family, and whoever else, maybe the stranger on the street. I appreciate each and every one of you. And like always, please follow, please, please, please follow all of the podcast pages. I have a page on Instagram at wildlifewonders, with an S, podcast, all one word, all lowercase. That's on Instagram. You can also find me on YouTube now, wildlifewonderspodcast. All the regular words, all regular punctuation, I guess, but wildlifewonderspodcast is on YouTube. There's only one video up right now, but it's a golden video, so go watch it. That is my intro to, that is my background, get to know me video, eventually other videos will be on there, but there's only one video right now, but go watch it and catch up. And if you haven't already, don't know where to find me, you can find us on Buzzsprout, you can find us on Spotify, you can find us on Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your major podcasts, you guys, just about everywhere. But the main place, if you can't find anywhere else, or you don't have Apple Music account, whatever the reason, Buzzsprout is where you'll find all the episodes, you'll find the links, you'll find everything you need. I think you'll find a link to the Instagram page on there as well. Facebook page is coming soon, but that's in the works. But let's get right into it. We are back at another episode this week, and we started off with primates last week, as if you remember, or if you haven't listened, go back and listen. In that episode, we went over all the primates, well, we can never go over all the primates, but it went over the difference between primates, what makes a primate a primate, what's the difference between apes and monkeys, and we touched a little bit on the apes, all the apes. Now, today, I'm going to discuss one of the apes that are not as talked about, that I would love to go over with you guys, and that, well, those are the gibbons. The gibbons are often not recognized compared to the other apes, because everybody knows about gorillas, and orangutans, and chimpanzees, because they're bigger, and they're cool, and they're so strong, but a lot of people miss over gibbons, or they call gibbons monkeys, which, to reiterate stuff from last week, monkeys have tails and apes do not, and most apes are big, except for the gibbons. So let's go over it. Gibbons are considered lesser apes. They're considered lesser apes because they're smaller apes. They're really small. A lot of monkeys are bigger than them, but they're pretty cool, so I think they should still be highlighted. There's around roughly 20 species of gibbons. I'm just going to give you an overview of all the gibbons, because ain't nobody got time to go through 20 species of everyone, because everybody's different, just like different humans from all over the world, there's different gibbons. They all speak different vocal sounds. They look different. They might eat different foods, so we're not going to go over every single one, but just to give you a little highlight of some of the ones that are out there, there's the lars, the dark-handed gibbon, the white-handed gibbon, the pileated gibbon, the white-cheeked gibbon, and the hulot gibbon are some, just to name a few. Now we're not, like I said, there are 20, so there's plenty others, but those are just some to think about. If you notice when I said those names, some of them, some of the names are kind of like the descriptions of what they look like, so the dark-handed gibbon, of course, has dark hands. The white-handed gibbon, of course, has white hands. They are found, all gibbons, are found in Southeast Asia. Every gibbon, of course, is found in a different area, but Indonesia, Malaysia, some parts of China, most are in the rainforest, so that's the main place where you're going to find them. Arboreal, to go over what that is, arboreal means an animal or anything that's arboreal stays in the trees for the most part. They stay in the trees, they live in the trees, gibbons don't really, they can come down, they don't come down to awesome like orangutans, they stay in the trees, they go from tree to tree, they make nests in the trees, but they live their life up there, you know, just chilling. They're living their best life. These, being that they are in the trees, they eat a lot of different things. They're omnivores, which means they have a variety of things in their diet. Some of those things include fruit and leaves, some insects, sometimes they'll even eat bird eggs, so they're still in bird eggs. I also saw somewhere, I think, that they possibly might eat small birds, do not quote me on that though. I've never seen a gibbon eat a bird, but it doesn't mean it doesn't happen, okay? I'm not in the trees with them, so who knows what they do in the wild. I've seen them plenty of times in a captive space, but not, of course, not in the wild. So like I said, they are lesser apes, meaning they are the smaller apes, so they weigh anywhere from 12 to 23 pounds. Now I know you're like, that's such a wide guess, such a wide variety. I told y'all, it's 20 species, okay? Everyone's not going to be the same. Some are smaller than others. Some are on the bigger side, of the hefty side, hefty, hefty, hefty, of 23 pounds, and some are on the smaller side, okay? Some are itty-bitties. They are between 16 and 26 inches long. Now for those of you that haven't seen a gibbon, I will, of course, will post pictures on my Wildlife Orphans podcast page, so go follow that, or a video, but they have extremely long arms. Their arms are longer than, I would say, a lot of the rest of their body. They're unproportional. Their arms are long, they have shorter legs, and so when you see them, no matter what the color, no matter other characteristics, they will always have very long arms. That's one way you can tell they are a gibbon. If they don't have a tail like a monkey, that's an ape, and you're like, hmm, now we know six apes, or whatever the case may be, you can narrow it down because it's a smaller ape. They have long arms. They have very, very dense, dense hair, very thick hair. I always say, they remind me of, their hair reminds me of natural hair, in all honesty. It's like a luscious, you know when you blow out natural hair, and it's not, it still sticks out, but it's like blown out so straight, it's like blown out natural hair. That's how I look at it. They also have throat sacs, like big sacs under their, around their throats to help amplify sounds. They are incredibly loud primates, okay? Backstory, I used to intern at the Philadelphia Zoo. While interning there, I think I had to be there at seven in the morning, seven, it was really early. It was before, you had to be there before the zoo opened. Every morning when we came in, outside I seen the turtles have their morning business, and peacocks running around. You always heard the gibbons, which I, one of my personal favorites of hearing that in the morning. It was like their wake-up sound, their alert. The females would go first, and you hear, I can't, I'm not going to go too loud, because I know y'all listen to this in your ears, but yeah. Look up the sounds of gibbons, and it's beautiful. To me, it's beautiful. That's what the throat sacs for. They're extremely loud. Their sounds can be amplified for very long ranges, and it's usually a duet between the males and females. Now, going on about males and females, there is sexual dimorphism between the sexes. That means that there is differences between the males and females of the animal, of whatever species we're talking about. That means typically in this case, excuse me, with this case, the gibbons are larger. Typically the females, I think, depending on the species of gibbons, they're more likely to change color. They're more likely to change color of the fur. Now, also with most gibbons, fur darkens with age, so they usually have a lighter fur as a baby or a juvenile, and as they get older, their fur starts to darken, so it might start off like a light cream color, and then eventually turn like a dark brown or a black. There is one type of gibbon that they're always black. From the time they're born, they're black, y'all. They're black, y'all. They're blackly, blackly, black, black, y'all. It's a cloth gibbon. They come out black. They stay black. They're black all their life, okay? Now, there might be another one, but from what I remember and what I have found, there is only that one. Everybody else changes color as they get older, so I have already talked about their sizes, their diet, where they're found, and their long arms, so that kind of pushes me to go over behavior. Because of their long arms, this primate is known to participate in brachiating. Well, Serena, what the heck is that? I'm going to tell you. Brachiating is when they use their hands, their long hands, to travel across the tree. So, when they're swinging back and forth across the tree, using four of the fingers, they do not use their thumb to grab on, but using four of the fingers to swing between tree branches. Usually, what people imagine with monkeys is this, the brachiating, but this specific ape, the gibbon, also brachiates where they swing between trees. They're smaller, so they can do that as an ape. But also, another cool thing, because their arms are so long, and it's the cutest thing ever to me. Whenever you see a gibbon on the ground, their arms are usually in the air, because their arms are so long, so I guess they put it in the air because it's easier to walk with it in the air versus dragging on the ground. So, usually, their arms are in the air, or their arms are out to the side of them when they're walking. They are bipedal, meaning they walk on their two feet when they're on the ground. They do not use their hand and their legs. They get up and walk on two feet, just like we do. So, they're always waving their hands like it's a party in the air, or waving to the side. Sometimes, it reminds me of a toddler trying to keep balance, if I can explain it. So, I think that's the cutest little thing. But yeah, bipedal means they walk on two legs. Humans are bipedal. They are always in small, monogamous groups. Now, this is where I was a little thrown off, because most sources say they are mating. Monogamous means usually the male and the female, or the two parents and then the children. That's their little group. But most of the things say they're monogamous for life, and then I've also seen that they're only serial monogamy, meaning they have one mate at a time, but I guess if something happens to that mate, or that mate dies, they would remate. Some species, I think, like, I believe geese and rhinoceros, hornbill birds, also mate for life, where that's who they're with, and a lot of birds do it. That's who they live with, and that's it. But, as far as this primate, they are said to also be monogamous, but it was a little discretion between whether they're lifetime monogamous or serial monogamous. But that's neither here nor there. That's very picky. They are social. You'll often see gibbons together. You might see groups together here and there. When the kids are playing, you might see the kids playing with each other or see them play with another juvenile, so that's not too uncommon. They are territorial. Their sounds are to let other people, especially in the morning, to let other people know, these mouths and these acres are my acres. Don't come near me. Don't come to my family. Don't start nothing. It won't be nothing. But it's all in, I wouldn't say fun and games, because it's not fun and games for them, but that's just a warning, like, ooh, this is my house. Ooh, stay away. And so, they are territorial. They participate in the morning calls to let gibbons know, this is my area. I'm pretty sure throughout the day, there are a lot of people like, ooh, hey, back up. You're too close to the line. Now, I did talk a little bit about mating already, but to go further into the mating, let's talk about mating, because I don't know if I can say that on this channel, but it's fine. Up to, they mate. They can have up to four offspring with a family at one time. This does not mean they're having at one time, but they can have up to four within their family group at one time because they have to wait until, the older ones have to wait until a certain period of time until they're old enough to live on their own. So, usually, when a gibbon mother, a female gibbon gets pregnant, she carries the baby. It's called the gestation. She carries the baby for about seven months. And after the seven months, they usually only have one child at a time. So, every time they reproduce, seven months, they usually have one child out of that. It's very, very rare that they'll have twins or multiples. Now, it does take up for seven years, seven years, until that child says, I'm ready to leave the nest. I'm mature enough to go on about my own business. Even when they leave at seven years, it has been noted that they don't reproduce until about 12. So, I'm pretty sure there's some exception to this question. It also might be based off the species might change, like the different types of gibbons. But they can leave or be mature at seven and then have kids around 12 to 13. Now, for the females, they carry the baby for seven months. They only have one baby, typically, every period, after the seven-month period. And then they might not have another child for another three years. Again, this may vary. This may depend on population. It may depend on species. But overall, typically, every three years, they might have another kid. So, one kid every three years. They do participate in a lot of grooming. The men and the women of this species stay very tight-nitched. They stay very together by showing affection through grooming and care. So, yeah. Now, as far as I realize, y'all, and don't hold it to my heart because I'm going to have to quickly. I realize that I didn't give the predators for this. I know humans are one predator off the top of my head. I just realized that. I'll come back to the predators. But the predators, one is always humans. Anytime I say something, just know most of the time the predators are humans. These animals are captured for food, but they're also captured, like people eat them, but they're also captured because people think that they have medicinal properties. I don't know how true that is, but that is one reason they're captured by humans. But that includes. Now, it says that predators can be also leopards, large snakes, and bigger birds of prey, if they can catch them. They're not easy prey to get because they're so fast, they're in the top of the trees, and they're constantly moving, and I guess also they're kind of smart. They're kind of smart. But they're just, when something's that challenging, if I'm an animal, I'm going to go after the easier thing first. If not moving as fast, it's a lot easier for me to get without all the work. So that's the predators. As far as lifespan, they live 30 to 35 years. Very, very long time. Longer than some adults, to be honest. Well, human adults. But 30 to 35 years, I'm sure in captivity they may or may not live longer. Don't really know. This number is mostly based off of in the wild. Their conservation status, although they live so long, they are the most endangered group of primates on earth. And this is why. The main thing you have to think about, if they're arboreal, meaning if they live on top of the trees and you cut a chunk of the forest down, how do they get to the other side to get the food, get their mates, get their family if they travel through the tree? Let's sit on that. If you don't, that's like saying we travel the roads. If a person's in a car and you cut off the bridge that they need to get to the other side of the land and they only could drive in the car to get there, how would they get there? There's no bridge. They would just fall off. Same concept. If you cut off the trees in this scenario, are there bridges? They use the trees to connect to each part of the forest to keep moving. Yes, they can come down on the ground, but it's not ideal. You have more predators on the ground. They can't move as fast as they could in the trees. And most of their, they sleep in the trees, they eat, they get their food in the trees. So most of their lifespan and their living is in the top of the trees. It wouldn't be ideal for them to be on the ground for very long. So that is the main reason. Habitat deforestation. There's gaps in their habitat so they can't get to where they need to get. Their family gets split. The community groups get split up or they're now not, their population is now split up so they can't mate and reproduce and be social like they usually are. The other reason, like I said before, they are killed for food. They are killed for medicinal properties. Like I said, I don't know if that's true or not, but that's the other reasons that they are, most of the species of gibbons are very endangered. There's some that are critically endangered. But just keep that in mind. If anybody ever asks you on a game show, you know, most endangered group of primates on earth? The gibbons. And with confidence, the gibbons. Now, the best part, we're to the end, not to the end, we have come to the end. This is the fun fact. And you know what, you guys? I think I have four for you today. I have four fun facts. Look at y'all getting extra. So the first one, I told you they'd be flying through these trees. They can reach speeds up to 35 miles per hour when going to the top of the trees and brachiating. And if that wasn't impressive enough, they can leap up to 50 feet. 50 feet. 50 feet, 35 miles per hour. They are going faster than the speed limit in the school zone. It's crazy. Also, second fun fact, they can see in color, which isn't common for every primate. So that's pretty cool that they can see in color. I don't know if it makes their experience any different than life, but, yeah, it probably makes a lot of things easier when finding food, though. A third fact, the rarest mammal in the world. Let's go with that. In the world is the Hainan gibbon. There's only 25 left in the wild and none in captivity. They're only found on the Hainan Island in China. You know what, since this post, there's probably one left. Since this will go, there's probably one left. From the time that I found that information from, it's probably not even 25 anymore. Rarest mammal in the world. Not rarest primate, but the rarest mammal. And last, but not least, they sing long, complex songs to one another. We kind of touched on this earlier. The females usually start and then the males follow and vocalize afterwards, but their throat sacks help them. I can't remember how far the range, but it's extremely far, how far their vocal sounds can go. But they sing back and forth. What you? The next one says, Sissy, I got it. Kind of that kind of thing going on. We're at the end. Thank you for sticking with me. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed telling you all about these facts. I hope you learned something from this. And if you don't, go back and listen again, because I'm sure you'll learn something from this. And I appreciate each and every one of y'all for tuning in to another episode of Wildlife Wonders Podcast. Bye.