silvery gibbon
hylobates moloch latin

The silvery gibbon ranks among the most threatened primates.

Several zoos operate silvery gibbon breeding programs.

The silvery gibbon (Hylobates moloch) is a primate in the Hylobatidae or gibbon family.

The silvery gibbon lives exclusively on the island of Java (Indonesia), where it inhabits deeply hidden portions of the rain forests.

The more stable of the two silvery gibbon groups, called the western lineage, numbers in the hundreds and lives in and near Gunung Halimun National Park.

Like all gibbon species, the silvery gibbon lives in pairs and stakes out territory that the pair strongly defends; it has relatively small territories of about 42 acres.

Unlike most other gibbon species (except for the Javan silvery gibbon, Hylobates moloch), Kloss's gibbon males and females do not sing duets.

Among the endangered mammal species in the Park there are several primates such as the Silvery Gibbon, Javan Surili and Javan Lutung.

The lower zones hold secure populations of the endangered West Javan Gibbon (Hylobates moloch moloch) - a sub-species of the Silvery Gibbon.

Yet nearly all nine species of gibbon are imperiled through much of their range - none more than the silvery gibbon, named for its distinctive color and found only on the Indonesian island of Java.

The 35 species of mammal include Banteng, Silvery Gibbon, Javan Lutung, Crab-eating Macaque, Leopard, Java Mouse-deer and Rusa Deer.

It is listed as Endangered on the 2009 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with the population appearing more stable than in a 2004 assessment of the species being Critically Endangered, which suggested there was a 50% chance of the silvery gibbon becoming extinct within the next decade.

But if sophisticated genetic studies are to become more than academic records of the path to extinction, scientists say, then officials and people concerned about conservation must commit themselves to preserving land and animals, and scientists and conservationists must find ways to increase legal protection and public support for imperiled animals like the acrobatic silvery gibbon.

The lower zones hold secure populations of the endangered West Javan Gibbon (Hylobates moloch moloch) - a sub-species of the Silvery Gibbon.