Anthropological Institute, University Zurich-Irchel, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH - 8057 Zurich, SWITZERLAND
This section has been published as:
Geissmann, T. (compiler), 2003: Symposium on gibbon diversity and conservation: Concluding
resolution. Asian Primates 8(3-4): 28-29.
A printable pdf-file of this paper can be downloaded here.
As a final element of the three-day symposium on "Gibbon Diversity and Conservation"
(Geissmann, 2002), held at the 19th Congress of the International Primatological
Society held in Beijing, China, in August 2002, participants were invited to contribute
to a roundtable discussion on the topic: "Getting gibbons out of the shadow
of the great apes: What should be done? What can be done? Where are the priorities?"
The roundtable discussion was held on 9 September 2002. The participants to the roundtable
discussion included, in alphabetical order:
J.R.B. Alfred, Warren Y. Brockelman, David J. Chivers, Susan M. Cheyne, Robert Dallmann,
Jayanta Das, Ardith Eudey, Thomas Geissmann, Nguyen Manh Ha, Joe-Won Huh, Xuelong
Jiang, Heui-Soo Kim, Susan Lappan, Katja Liebal, Barney Long, Jean Martin, Shirley
McGreal, Nicholas Malone, Lori K. Sheeran, Maria Ujhelyi
The participants drafted the following resolution:
The ape closest to extinction, with less than 50 individuals, is a black crested
gibbon hanging on in tiny forest fragments in Vietnam and China. This exemplifies
the crisis facing the most diverse and endangered of the apes. The unique songs of
these spectacular acrobats are fast fading from Asia's disappearing forests. Considering
that the gibbons include the most critically endangered primates in the world, we,
the gibbon specialists within the International Primatological Society at its 19th
congress at Beijing, China, resolve that:
Of the 12 gibbon species comprising at least 29 taxa we have identified the following
as the 10 most endangered:
Geissmann, T. (2002). Gibbon diversity and conservation. Pp. 112-113 in Caring for primates. Abstracts of the XIXth congress of the International Primatological Society, 4th-9th August, 2002, Beijing, China, Mammalogical Society of China, Beijing.
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