Hainan gibbon among most endangered apes

The Hainan gibbon, a unique species found in tropical Hainan province, has been identified as one of the world's top 25 most endangered primate species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

With their black faces and thick fur that changes color at different ages, Hainan gibbons - Nomascus hainanus - all reside in Bawangling National Nature Reserve, a 29,980-hectare rain forest more than 200 kilometers south of Haikou, the provincial capital.

There were more than 2,000 gibbons on the entire island in the 1950s, but the primates were later found only in the Bawangling reserve. By the 1980s, there were only seven gibbons.