Hylobates Lar is the scientific name of the White-Handed Gibbon. It has many different features that put it in its special group of animals. One feature is the white-handed gibbon is it is not a monkey; it is an ape because it has no tail.

The white-handed gibbon is found in Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand. Some people say they are extinct in China, but if they still exist then they would be found in Southwest Yunnan. The white-handed gibbon lives in rainforests, mixed with deciduous bamboo forest and seasonal evergreen forests, sometimes they live in swamp forests. An interesting fact about the gibbon is that they live in trees for most of their lives; they rarely go down to the forest floor. The gibbons’ hands and feet are bare leathery skin so it helps them climb trees; the big toe mostly helps by grabbing the tree and pushing them up. Their leathery feet also help them walk upright along branches, and their long arms help them swing through the trees.

The gibbons’ usually are in small groups of around 200, they small groups are centered on the mated pair. The youngest of the small groups leave them when they are big enough and strong enough to be alone and take care of themselves. There is really nothing changing in the small groups of the white-handed gibbon, but the population of the white-handed gibbon is decreasing. There are over 79,000 lar gibbons in, and around the world.

The predators of the white-handed gibbon are the leopards, the clouded leopards, and humans. Humans will kill the mothers’ and then capture the mothers’ young and sell them in a pet market. But for the leopards and clouded leopards the gibbons swing the trees, to escape their predators. But the baby gibbons’ cannot escape the humans after their mothers are dead, because their fathers leave after they are born. The white-handed gibbon eats leaves, fruits, insects, snails, nestlings, and birds if they can catch them while swimming through trees. In zoos they eat vegetables, fed fruit, monkey chow, buds, and blossoms; and all of them eat in the daytime.

So, some main facts about the white-handed gibbon is it is not a monkey it is an ape because it has no tail, they travel in small groups, they have a white ring around there face, there feet and hands are leathery so they help it climb trees and swing from tree to tree. They also have a large brain, their parents’ chase of their young when they are old enough to be by themselves, and the young are born hairless and there hair gets darker with age.

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Author: Hannah S.
Published: 1/2013

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Sources:
"ARKive - White-handed Gibbon Videos, Photos and Facts - Hylobates Lar." ARKive - Discover the World's Most Endangered Species. Web. 03 Feb. 2011. http://www.arkive.org/white-handed-gibbon/hylobates-lar/.
"Philadelphia Zoo - White-handed Gibbon." Philadelphia Zoo - Home. Web. 03 Feb. 2011. http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/zoo/Meet-Our-Animals/Mammals/Primates/White-handed-Gibbon.htm.
"White Handed Gibbon." Blank Park Zoo. Web. 03 Feb. 2011. http://www.blankparkzoo.com/en/explore_the_zoo/meet_the_animals_2/white_handed_gibbon.cfm.