Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-fwgfc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T18:56:07.600Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Assessing the quality of relationships in rehabilitating lar gibbons (Hylobates lar)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

Monique W de Veer
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Ruud van den Bos
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Sir, Hereby we would like to describe a small project on rehabilitation in gibbons.

At the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project (GRP) Phuket, Thailand, lar gibbons (Hylobates lar) that have lived their youth as pets are being rehabilitated, with release as the final aim. Rehabilitation consists of minimizing human contact, encouraging conspecific contact, and giving appropriate food and opportunities to brachiate. After having been cages at the project for a period ranging from a few months to a few years, gibbons which are thought to have a good chance of surviving in the wild are moved to one of three islands near Phuket. As a semi-natural environment is thought to facilitate the process of rehabilitation, the islands are used as an intermediate between the cages and the wild. As a rule, only pair-bonded couples and groups of single (mostly immature) gibbons are moved to the islands. Pair-bonded couples because only they have a fair chance of surviving in the wild (Brockelman 1990); single gibbons because this allows them to choose their own partners.

Type
Letters
Copyright
© 2000 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Bennett, J A 1992 A glut of gibbons in Sarawak - is rehabilitation the answer? Oryx 26: 157164CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brockelman, W Y 1990 Requirements for a successful gibbon management program in Thailand. In: S Erichson et al (eds) Laboratory Animal Health for all Proceedings of the IXth ICLAS International Symposium on Laboratory Animal Science, Bangkok, January 10-16. Mahidol University Press: BangkokGoogle Scholar
Geissmann, T and Orgeldinger, M 1997 Pair bond and duet songs in siamanga (Hylobates syndactylus). In: Taborsky M and Taborsky B (eds) Advances in Ethology 32. Oxford, Blackwell Wissenschafts-Verlag Berlin: ViennaGoogle Scholar
Leighton, D R 1986 Gibbons: Territoriality and monogamy. In: B B Smuts, D L Cheney, R M Seyforth, R W Wrangham and T T Struhsaker (eds) Primate Societies, pp 135146. Chicago University Press: Chicago, USAGoogle Scholar
Mootnick, A R 1997 Management of gibbons hylobates spp at the International Center for Gibbon Studies, California, with a special note on pileated gibbons Hylobates pileatus. International Zoo Yearbook 35: 271 -279Google Scholar
Morin, T D 1994 Gibbon rehabilitation procedures in Thailand. Journal of Wildlife Rehabilitation 17:3-6Google Scholar