Jorhat, May 5: A census conducted by the forest department in the first week of April recorded an increase in the gibbon population in the gibbon sanctuary at Mariani along the Assam-Nagaland border. In 1998, the population of the gibbons was believed to be around 45 to 50, a forest official said.
The April census recorded 498 primates belonging to seven species. Altogether 65 hollock gibbons belonging to 17 families have been spotted in the sanctuary. “We have found three baby gibbons among the families. This is a positive sign as the breeding of gibbons is limited between a single pair only,” said Gunin Saikia, assistant conservator of forest, Jorhat division.
The gibbons mate with only one partner and live in families.
The Mariani gibbon sanctuary has seven species of primates, including the hollock gibbon, which is an endangered species, listed in the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The census recorded 65 capped langurs, 45 pig-tailed macaque in two groups, 151 stump-tailed macaque in three groups, 58 Assamese macaque, 116 rhesus macaque and 20 slow loris. The forest official said forest personnel carried out the census with the help of NGOs and experts.
The 19.5 square km sanctuary was divided into six zones and likewise six teams were formed to conduct the census.
A training camp for those involved in the census was held in March, in which senior officers of the forest department and experts on wildlife, including professors from Gauhati University spoke on the topic, said Saikia.