The often overlooked gibbons include the most endangered primate on Earth – since the 1950s numbers of the Hainan gibbon have plummeted from more than 2000 to less than 25 individuals – but now with the help of a few celebrity chums the forgotten ape is fighting back to ensure its survival.

Thanks to Bill Oddie and the Goodies, IPPL has released a 2010 version of hit song The Funky Gibbon. All proceeds will go to IPPL’s Save the Gibbon campaign. The song is available to download on iTunes and Amazon for 79p.  In these cash-strapped times, downloading the song is a nice, simple way to do your bit for a good cause!

Gibbons aren’t a bragging breed by nature, so it’s up to IPPL to boast about just why these treasured creatures should receive the funding they need to be protected:

Gibbons have a lower divorce rate than humans!

• Among apes, monogamy is unique only to gibbons and humans. Like many of us, gibbons live in small family units with two parents and one to three offspring. And just like humans when gibbons mature they leave the family home to find a mate and start their own family.

Gibbons have got the X Factor!

• Gibbons are musical creatures and their high pitched, howling calls can often be heard first thing in the morning. Males and females have distinct vocalisations and most gibbon mates perform long, sophisticated duets, which are thought to strengthen the bond between them, as well as marking out their territory to other gibbons.

The gibbon is the king of the swingers

• Gibbons are tree-dwelling and they use a form of locomotion known as ‘brachiation,’ arm-over-arm swinging to get around. They use their elongated arms and fingers and flexible wrist and shoulder joints to leap across distances of up to 10m at a time!

Helen Thirlway, IPPL’s UK Director says: “Despite all of these qualities, gibbons are often overlooked because, due to their small size, they are classified as lesser rather than great apes. This means that they don’t receive the same funding and protection and yet they are equally at risk from poaching, illegal trafficking and habitat destruction. There are 16 species of gibbon and all of them are threatened with extinction.” To find out more about the campaign, visit www.savethegibbon.org.

At IPPL (UK), we see educationas a vital component of our work. When people understand the role that primates play in the ecosystem, they recognise why it is so important to protect them. Through their day-to-day activities, monkeys and apes disperse seeds for various trees and plants, making them key to the survival of rainforest habitat, and consequently, to tackling the wider issue of climage change.

Our latest educational project is to help Ikamaperu, an organisation based in the Peruvian Amazon, to build an environmental education centre.

The centre will be situated on the edge of the Pacaya Samiria national park, which is one of the greatest areas of biodiversity in the world, and home to threatened primates, including two endangered species of spider monkey.

The local indigenous people, known as the Cocama, have been afforded official rights to enter the park to carry out hunting and fishing for their survival, but the park and its wildlife are now increasingly exploited by illegal hunters, loggers and settlers. They have organised a poaching patrol, but to be able to do this effectively, they need an understanding of environmental legislation. The education centre will provide a training base for the Cocama to learn how to identify endangered species, confiscate captured animals, and report illegal logging, settling and land clearance.

The centre will also be used to teach people new skills to offer them an alternative livelihood to hunting.

To build capacity, local people will be trained as educators to deliver workshops at the centre and through outreach visits to communities around the reserve. This will increase understanding of native wildlife, particularly the monkeys, and their important role in the ecosystem.

IPPL (UK) has helped to cover the cost of building materials and labour to construct the centre and we are delighted to be involved with this inspiring project.

Dr Angela Maldonado of the Entropika Foundation has received the Whitley Gold Award for her work to investigate the illegal trade in night monkeys.

Night monkeys are being illegally traded

In 2008, the Entropika Foundation, headed by Dr Angela Maldonado, completed a year of research in the tri-border area of Brazil, Colombia and Peru, and established that some 4,000 night monkeys were being traded annually, representing a monetary value of over 100,000 USD for the traders and intermediaries. In 2009, IPPL (UK) funded the continued collection of this data to help provide evidence for greater protection of the night monkey species being traded (Aotus nancymaae) and to ensure the authorities were made aware of the ineffectiveness of local law enforcement.

We are delighted that Angela’s work has now been recognised with the prestigious Whitley Gold Award, which is awarded once a year to the world’s most dynamic conservation leaders.