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There were as many as 2,000 Hainan gibbons living on the island in the 1950s, but deforestation and hunting led to a severe decline, according to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which is working to conserve the species. The last surviving population now lives in a single forest patch in the Hainan Tropical Rainforest within the Bawangling National Nature Reserve.

One gibbon family was spotted living outside the conservation park in 2019 and is thriving due to conservation efforts and community education, according to the New England Primate Conservancy.

Hainan gibbons are arboreal frugivores – tree-dwelling animals that consume mostly fruit – and are essential for forest ecosystems on the island because of their role in seed dispersal and canopy balance, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

They were listed in 2015 as critically endangered IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species but critically depleted as of 2023, and considered the world's rarest ape and primate by the ZSL.

Long-term recovery for the Hainan gibbon will require \"intensive\" conservation management, including reducing potential conflicts of interest between local communities and gibbons, the ZSL said.

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