THE APE IN OUR STORIES

India's only non-human ape species is a cultural icon threatened by forest fragmentation

- NARAYAN SHARMA AND HIMANGSHU KALITA

Holou uthil tokou gosot (the gibbon climbed the palm tree)": this first line of an old children’s rhyme in Assam, still recited in schools and homes, captures a lively image of the Western Hoolock gibbon swinging on a tokou palm (Livistona jenkinsiana), causing a commotion among birds and leaves.

It is one of the earliest ways Assamese children encounter this charismatic primate; not as a creature of the wild, but as a familiar, playful neighbour. This neighbourly bond is most clearly seen in Barekuri village near Tinsukia, Assam, where local residents live alongside a small population of Western Hoolock gibbons. The residents protect the trees around their homes, refusing to cut them so that the gibbons can move freely. This village is thus becoming the model of community-led coexistence, showing how traditional reverence can translate into everyday conservation.