Hoolock Gibbons Research within the CCA with an ethno-primatological lens

Hoolock gibbons are primarily fruit eaters, acting as key seed dispersers and playing a vital role in maintaining forest regeneration and biodiversity. Our research on hoolock gibbons was initiated within the Community Conserved Area (CCA) under the Elopa–Etugu Community Eco-cultural Preserve (EECEP) in the Lower Dibang Valley to study their behavioral patterns in mountainous terrain, including diet, home range usage, and interaction with trees across varying canopy cover.

To carry out this behavioral study, we first needed to understand how many gibbon families live in our forests. In the Idu Mishmi culture, interacting directly with gibbons is considered taboo; therefore, we use their songs in a non-invasive way to estimate gibbon demography.

Hoolock gibbons are important indicators of forest health. Their survival reflects the well-being of the forest ecosystems that sustain Idu livelihoods, cultural practices, and relationships with the land. Protecting gibbons also supports broader biodiversity conservation within the CCA.

Here, we focus on understanding how many hoolock gibbon families live in EECEP Community Conserved Area (CCA) and how their population is changing over time. This long-term effort helps track gibbon presence and persistence within Idu-managed forests. 

Field information from non-invasive listening-based surveys across different parts of the forest is compiled and reviewed to estimate the number of gibbon families and track changes over time. This supports conservation planning and provides insights into how gibbons and their forest habitats are responding to protection within the CCA.

By using the same methodology each year, we are able to confidently track real population changes. Continued monitoring supports long-term conservation planning for gibbons and the forests they depend on.

About Dibang Team 

The Dibang Team is a collective of Idu Mishmi people from the twin districts of the Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, India. We have been working to conserve the region’s bio-cultural diversity while creating sustainable livelihoods. We combine Western science with Idu knowledge, culture, and spirituality to strengthen our cultural and traditional institutions, ensuring that the region’s biocultural diversity continues to thrive for generations.