TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Local forest serves as home for Javan gibbons
Under threat: A tailless gibbon perches on a tree in the Sokokembang conservation forest in Pekalongan regency, Central Java
Change Size
U
span class="inline inline-center">Under threat: A tailless gibbon perches on a tree in the Sokokembang conservation forest in Pekalongan regency, Central Java. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the primate as endangered as its population dropped from some 2,500 in 2000 to about 800 currently.(Courtesy of Swara Owa Yogyakarta)
Sokokembang forest, one of the few tropical forests that still exists in Java, is home to many kinds of primates, including the critically endangered Javan gibbons, locally known as Owa Jawa, which can be seen roaming the trees in the forest.
In the forest located in Kayupuring Village, Petungkriyono district of Pekalongan regency in Central Java, Javan silvery gibbons live freely with Java leaf monkeys and Javan lutungs. These primates cannot be found anywhere else in the world, said Arif Setiawan, primate researcher from Yogyakarta Swara Owa, a non-governmental group promoting the conservation of Indonesian primates and their habitats.
Specifically for Javan gibbons, Arif said its population had shown decline and still only existed in the mountains in Banten and West Java as well as in the forests in Dieng Plateu in Central Java.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorized Javan gibbons as critically
endangered.
Most of the gibbons in Dieng Plateu area live in Sokokembang forest, which provides abundant food for the primates.
There has been a significant drop in gibbon population partly due to the increasingly narrow forest, as most of the area has been transformed into pine and rubber wood plantations, which reduce food supply for the gibbons.
In Sokokembang forest alone, there are only 881 gibbons recorded currently, down significantly from 2,500 in 2000, Arif said.
Illegal logging and trading of baby gibbons contribute to the scarce population. However, the community has stepped up efforts to raise public awareness of the protected animal.
“There have been people poaching baby gibbons for trade. But local people now realize that gibbons are endangered animals that need to be protected,” he said.
Arif explained that gibbons are monogamous primates that live in groups. Each pair usually has one or two offspring, with a gestation period of between 197 to 200 days and a pregnancy gap of three to four years between the first and second offspring.
The female gibbons like to shout in short and long tones as part of their morning calls to mark the territory of their group.
Local villager Tasuri said most of the villagers now took part in preserving the forest as a wildlife natural habitat as well as protecting the endangered species living in Sokokembang forest.
One of the efforts to raise awareness of preserving Javan gibbons comes in the form of a marketing strategy for local Robusta and Arabica coffee powder sold by villagers in which a picture and a story about gibbons has been put on the packaging. The local coffee is now known as Owa Coffee.
The Pekalongan regency administration announced Petungkriyono district as a natural tourist attraction early last year. Besides witnessing wildlife animals in the forest, tourists who come to the area can enjoy the natural forest plantation and clear waterfalls in several villages in the district.
