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Home , Agile gibbon, Hylobates, Siamang

NAT. NAT. HIST. BULL. SIAM S町 .45: 123-124 ，1997

Siamang (1 かlobates syndactylus): A New Recorded for Thailand Thailand

Distinctive Distinctive sounds come out from the evergreen rain fores t. It is “" ，a which which has not previously been recorded in Thailand. The Siamang is the largest gibbon of the . It is found in Peninsular Malaysia and in ， (C 阻 VERS ， 1974). The is easily identified by its its large size and all black pelage. Wh en it calls ， the air-sack from the throat puffs out to make a loud booming sound (CHIVERS ， 1974: HAlM OFF ，1981). This animal was suspected to to occur in the southem-most p制 of Thailand by LEKAGUL & McNEELY (1 977 ， P. 307) ， but but there has been no actual sighting before now. A group of birdwatchers from the Bird Conservation Society of Thailand conducted a 住ip to Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctu ぽ y in Amphur Waeng ， Narathiwat Pr ovince ， during 14- 23 October 1996. On 17 October ， at about 0900 h while we were birdwatching along a road in 出es 組 ctu ぽ y，we heard a noisy call of a marnmal immediately identified (by UT) 出 a duet call of a group of (Hylobates syndac 砂lus). Th e Siamang called from a lower hill of Kh ao Ba Tu Ta Mong which was about 1.5-2 km from us. They called for for about 20 minutes ， then stopped. No Siamangs were seen. The next day (1 8 October) ， we recruited a guide who knew most of the 位泊 ls in this forest to take us to see the siamang. siamang. At 1020 h，a group of Siamang started calling. Unfortunately ， they called from the the other side of 血 e hill and stopped before we could find the way to them. On 21 October 1996 ， at 1115 h while we were birdwatching slong 出e same road ，on the left side of Kh long Ai Ka Ding about 3 km before Kh ao 百long Substation ，we heard the Siamangs duet duet again and the sound was quite close to us. At 1130 h we saw two 1訂 'ge black slowly slowly swinging on a big tree about 200 meters from us. We observed them with 8x32 and and 10x40 binoculars and a 30x telescope. We could see the throat air sacks inflate when they they were calling. 百ley called for a least 40 minutes before they swung back to 由ehill and and disappeared.τ 'h ese locations are at approximately 10 1" 41' -4 8' E ，5 0 48' -4 9' N. This is is the frrst confirmed record of Siamang (Hylobates syndactylus) in Thailand. We would like like to coin a Th ai name for the siamang 一切::u"hl 叫 (chanee dum yai )-o r 1紅 ge black gibbon ， in English. The Siamang has been seen regularly by local people who know 血is fores t. They call 由is large black gibbon with the air-sack as “ ar-may". They believe that this animal is very very dangerous to people ，especially when they walk alone in the forest. They say armay would charge and bite any single man in the fores t. In出 is forest ，we also found a good population of (Hylobates agilis) ， which is another r紅 e gibbon sp 配 ies found in Th ailand (MARSHALL ， 1981). MARSHALL (1981) (1981) also found the Agile Gibbon in Waeng District ， but failed to penetrate f: 紅 enough south south to hear 出e Siam 阻 g. We would like to 白創tk Kh un Chatchawan Tantithadapitak who kindly suppo 巾 d us in in surveying the in Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary. We also owe thanks to Kh un Narit Narit Kh umnuruk and the sanctu 紅 y's rangers for their hospitality and guidance.

Received Received 9 Apri1 1997; accepted 19 Ju1y 1997.

123 123 124 124 UTHAJ TREESUCON AND TJPPAMAS TAN百百~ADAPJTAK

REFERENCES

CHJVERS ，D .J. 1974. The Siamang in Ma1aya: A Fie1d Study of a in Tropical Rain Fores t. Contr. Primatol. Primatol. 4: 1-335. S Karger ，Base l. LEKAGUL ， B. AND J.A. McNEELY. 1997. ofThailand. Association for Conservation of wildlife ，B 釦 g- kok. kok. 758 pp.

HAJMOFF ， E.H. 198 1. Video an a1 ysis of si 創 n飢 g (Hylobates 勾mdactylus) song ， Behavior 76: 128-15 1. MARSHALL ，J.T. 198 1. τ'h e agile gibbon in South Th ailand. Na t. Hi st. Bull. Siam Soc. 29: 129-136.

Uthai Uthai Treesucon Tippamas Tantithadapitak Bird Bird Conservation Society of Th ail 却 d