Tripura steps up efforts to save India’s only ape species

The Tripura government has unveiled a detailed action plan aimed at protecting the endangered Western Hoolock Gibbon ~ the only ape species found in India, ina major push for wildlife conservation.

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

This initiative marks a significant milestone in the state’s efforts to safeguard its fragile biodiversity and tackle the alarming decline in the gibbon population.

Listed as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List and protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Western Hoolock Gibbon enjoys the highest degree of legal protection. Yet, its numbers have continued to decline over the years, largely due to habitat loss, hunting, and human-wildlife conflicts.

Tripura, an ecologically rich state in the northeast, harbours one of the country’s last remaining gibbon populations. These agile, tree-dwelling primates are known for their spectacular aerial swings across forest canopies and hauntingly melodic calls that echo through the jungle. But once-flourishing forests have shrunk and fragmented, leaving fewer safe spaces for them to thrive.