Crested gibbon (Hylobates concolor)- At home in the top of the trees
The Crested gibbon is one of five species of the Gibbon family. Gibbons are also called "lesser apes", indicating their close relationship to the "great apes", including Chimpanzees, Bonobos, Gorillas and Orang-utans. This means that Gibbons are also quite closely related to man. They inhabit rainforests of South-East Asia. Crested gibbons - like the other Gibbon species - live in family groups, consisting of an adult pair and their young. The female gives birth to a single young all two to three years. The young Gibbon stays with the group for several years. Thus different aged young, mostly two to four, belong to the family. The group migrates within its territory, in order to get enough of their prefered food - fruits, which are distributed in a dispersed way. Very special with Crested gibbons is the different colour of the genders. The male and the young are of black fur colour, whereas the female is bright brown. This sexual dimorphism is quite unusual concerning Gibbons. In the other Gibbon species males and females are quite similar, which is common with animals that are living monogamous.
The arms of Gibbons are the longest among all primates. They reach 2,6 times their bodylength (man: 1,48 times). The length of their arms enables Gibbons to move in a way, which is optimal in the top of the trees and can be described as "swinging hand over hand". They move hand over hand from one branch to another while their body is swinging passivly like a pendulum. This way to move is not only energy saving, but also enables them to reach high speeds and to "fly" between branches which are up to ten meters apart. To be able to do such leaps, it's important to preserve much of the motion deriving from the swinging, which is easier to achieve with long arms. In spite of their skilfulness Gibbons don't escape accidents. It's estimated that about one third of all Gibbons suffer from fractures, which were caused by falls. The "hand over hand" way of moving is also of importance concerning the way Gibbons feed. It enables them to take fruits growing on thin branches far away from the centers of the trees.
Gibbons are very extraordinary primates in any respect. Famous is one of their ways to communicate. Gibbons do far-reaching singing, which lasts from 20 to 30 minutes. Some Gibbon species, including the Crested gibbon, have throats that are inflated while singing, serving as a soundbox. Two things are obvious: Gibbons scarcely sing alone. In most cases both partners or the entire family sings. In addition the singing of the pair is well coordinated and alternating. There are fluid transitions between the singing of the partners of an old, harmonic pair. It's presumed that this choir- and duet-singing has several functions: Like the singing of songbirds it serves as a means of fencing off the territory and indicating the location of the group. In addition it strengthens the bounds between the partners, which is essential to successfully raising young.
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This article was originally published at <a href="http://magazine.naturspot.de" target="_top">magazine.naturspot.de</a>. <a href="http://magazine.naturspot.de/text/crested-gibbon.html" target="_top">Link to the original article</a>
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