Singing and Swinging Ape : The Hoolck Gibbon of India

The Hoolock gibbon, Hylobates hoolock, is familiar by its song and special way of locomotion, known as brachiation. It uses its extremely long arms for swinging from one branch to the other or from tree to tree with incredible speed. The gibbon hardly leaves the forest and is seldom destructive to ground crops. The gibbons, smallest among the apes, are represented by 16 species. The Hoolock gibbon or the white browed gibbon, is the only ape found in India. The rest of the species are found out side this country. It occurs in all the seven states of Northeastern India. Gibbons are also known as Lesser or smaller apes.