SILVERY GIBBON PROJECT NEWSLETTER The Page 1 June 2013 SILVERY GIBBON PROJECT PO BOX 335 COMO 6952 WESTERN AUSTRALIA Website: www.silvery.org.au E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 0438 992 325 June 2013 PRESIDENT’S REPORT Dear Members and Friends I hope, not just for Sadewa and Kiki, this forest will present an opportunity for many other gibbons Well this is what it’s all about! On June 15 two currently kept at JGC to live as a gibbons should; Javan Gibbon Centre (JGC) residents - Sadewa and for the species, an opportunity to establish a and Kiki - will be free! After years of planning, our new population of gibbons in Java. new release site at Malabar Forest near Bandung has been secured, facilities have been We will keep you posted on their progress. The constructed and the team is ready to go. Sadewa release program, however, has added significant and Kiki have been transferred to their new expenditure to our budget this year and we are enclosure at the release site and are getting used urgently seeking support. If you are able to help to the sights, sounds and tastes of this forest! I with a tax-deductible donation before the end of will have the privilege of being there on June 15 the financial year, we would greatly appreciate it - when their cage door is opened, and I hope that you will be helping to secure a future for Silvery this will symbolize a bright future for Javan gibbon gibbons! conservation. We were so pleased this month to see enthusiastic youngsters in QLD doing their bit to help Silvery gibbons. Check out our facebook page for their You Tube video. We also visited Tranby College early in the year and were once again impressed by the support of this amazing school. Keep up the great work guys and we look forward to next year’s market day. (See pictures page 4). If you would like the opportunity to visit the Javan L-R Kiki and Sedewa Gibbon Centre - and so much more of Indonesia’s Below – Transfer to Malabar Forest spectacular wildlife - why not join me on the next Wildlife Asia Big 5 Tour! It is an extraordinary opportunity to see wildlife from the perspective of a conservation tour. Places are available in November 2013 and March 2014. Visit www.orangutanodysseys.com/wildlifeasia to read more! Take care Clare Campbell President, Silvery Gibbon Project SILVERY GIBBON PROJECT NEWSLETTER Page 2 June 2013 Silvery Gibbon: What binds together the different organisations that make up Wildlife Asia and why is it important for them to work collectively? The partner organisations – The Orangutan Project; The Silvery Gibbon Project; The Asian Rhino Project and Free the Bears - all work in a SILVERY GIBBON TALKS WITH similar geographic area of Southeast Asia. By WILDLIFE ASIA FUNDRAISING pooling funds, information, resources and expertise I feel they can be more effective. Each MANAGER, MICHAEL KERR organisation equally shares strong foundations as well as the passion and drive to succeed. Wildlife Silvery Gibbon: Michael, congratulations on Asia currently has 6 species under our umbrella becoming the new Fundraising Manager for and this gives us a very broad appeal. By working Wildlife Asia. Can you tell us what you’re hoping collectively we can reach a larger audience and to achieve in the coming year? promote a very holistic conservation message. It also allows us to be more efficient and effective In the coming year, my aim with our funds. is to develop Wildlife Asia’s brand, and to establish sustainable funding strategies. I would Michael Kerr like to explore opportunities aside from the usual fundraising methods, and target people or businesses that wouldn’t normally donate GO WITHOUT FOR GIBBONS to conservation causes. I hope to significantly raise the profile of Wildlife Asia. Earlier this year, the SGP Committee took it upon themselves to raise funds by going without some Silvery Gibbon: Why did you get involved with this luxuries for the month of February. organisation? You may remember that some of us went without I got involved with Wildlife Asia because I believe (to name a few): in the concept. If we can secure sufficient funding, the four partnership organisations can Coffee really do some amazing things, and see the Alcohol tangible benefits of their hard work. Wildlife Asia Chocolate has an exciting future and the ability to be a Purchasing clothes market leader in wildlife conservation. Family, relatives and Facebook friends also joined Silvery Gibbon: What attracted you to in and we are pleased to announce that we raised conservation more generally, and why does it matter? the grand sum of $4688. I have been involved in several of Wildlife Asia’s A great fundraiser and we hope to do it again in partner organisations in a voluntary capacity for 2014. over 10 years. It’s a rewarding experience, but I became increasingly frustrated with the difficulties in raising funds for such important causes. I decided to become more directly involved in promoting the good work done by these organisations. The amount of time, effort and passion that the Wildlife Asia Committee puts in is inspiring, and I would like to be able to support their efforts by developing Wildlife Asia into a successful organisation. SILVERY GIBBON PROJECT NEWSLETTER Page 3 June 2013 LEONARDO DICAPRIO weeks ago his Foundation joined with Christies Auction to raise $38,000,000 in support of global THE QUIET CONSERVATIONIST conservation measures. You may know Leonardo DiCaprio as a Hollywood actor, but for many years he has been an active LAR GIBBONS: A PROFILE advocate for By Jeff Beaton environmental causes. In 1998 he set up the Sometimes called the white-handed gibbon, lar Leonardo DiCaprio gibbons (Hylobates lar) have the greatest north- Foundation, dedicated south range of all gibbon species. They range to protecting the Earth’s throughout Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia last wild places and and the northern third of Sumatra and Indonesia. fostering a harmonious They were once found in the southwest of Yunnan relationship between province, China, but may now be extinct in that humanity and the region. Their greatest numbers are in Thailand, natural world. The numbering 15,000 to 20,000. Foundation has been working with environmental and humanitarian Lar gibbons have issues through grant making, campaigning and white upper sides of media projects. Areas of focus include; wildlife hands and feet, with a and habitat preservation, healthy oceans, water ring of white hair access, climate change and disaster relief. framing their faces. Their fur can vary A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio chooses from a sandy or pale fawn through a red buff to to fly on commercial flights instead of chartering brown, or black with both male and females private jets, drives environmentally friendly having these colour variations. Whether a lar vehicles and installed solar panels on his house. gibbon is light or dark in colour is determined by He considers that global warming is the number- its genetic inheritance from its parents - the dark one environmental challenge. colour being the dominant gene. In 2010, DiCaprio donated $1,000,000 to relief Parents can be of efforts in Haiti after the earthquake, and later in any colour. Lars the same year donated another $1,000,000 to weigh 5 to 7.6kg the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Russian (M); 4.4 to 6.8kg Tiger Summit. In 2011, he joined the Animal (F) and grow to a Legal Defence Fund's campaign to free Tony, a height of 43.5 to tiger who has spent 58.5cm (M); 42 to the last decade at the 58cm (F). Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, There are four acknowledged subspecies: Louisiana. Since Carpenters lar gibbon (Hylobates lar then, DiCaprio has carpenteri) found in eastern Myanmar, north- become increasingly western Thailand and Laos; involved in Central lar gibbon (H. l. entelloides) found in conservation southern Myanmar and southern Thailand; campaigns of tigers, Malaysian lar gibbon (H. l. lar) found in and recently speaking Malaysia and southern Thailand; out in support of Sumatran lar gibbon (H. l. vestitus) found in conservation of habitat in Sumatra, Aceh, Indonesia (northern Sumatra). Thailand and other parts of South East Asia. He A possible fifth subspecies, the Yunnan lar (H. has sponsored campaigns in defence of l. yunnanensis), located in the Yunnan elephants, orangutans, sharks and other province of southern China has been endangered animals, and his Foundation is described as data-deficient and is now likely to stepping up work against poaching in Kenya. Two be extinct. SILVERY GIBBON PROJECT NEWSLETTER Page 4 June 2013 Though generally monogamous, studies in the Animal Diversity Web (October, 2005) early 2000’s have shown that some lars form http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html serial monogamous relationships with occasional Burnie, D. (2001) Animal – The Definitive Visual Guide to partner changes the World’s Wildlife. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. and even non- Groves, C. P. (2005). In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. monogamous Mammal Species of the World groupings. Groups Brandon-Jones D, Eudey AA, Geissmann T Groves CP, usually consist of a Melnick DJ, Morales JC, Shekelle M, Stewart (2004). mated pair and Asian primate classification. Int J Primatol. pp. 97–164 their offspring. The average home Sommer, V. & Reichard, U. (2000). "Rethinking 2. Monogamy: The Gibbon Case". In P. Kappeler, ed. range of lar gibbons is approx 0.4km . Lars mark Primate Males. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. their territory with an elaborate duet sung between pp. 159–168 males and females during the morning and these IUCN Red List duets are also thought to assist in bonding.