Hainan Gibbon

The Hainan gibbon, scientifically Nomascus hainanus and also called the Hainan black-crested gibbon, survives only on Hainan Island in the South China Sea, where it inhabits broad-leaved forest and semi-deciduous monsoon forest and feeds mainly on ripe, sugar-rich fruit such as figs, along with leaves and insects at times. Males are almost completely black, sometimes with white or buff cheeks, while females are golden or buff with black patches including a streak of black on the head; both sexes are slender, long-limbed and tailless, swinging through the trees with their long arms. Its population has collapsed from more than 2,000 individuals in the 1950s to approximately 22 individuals in recent counts, driven mainly by habitat destruction after roughly 95 percent of Hainan Island original vegetation was cleared for rubber plantations and logging. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and protected under CITES Appendix I, making it one of the rarest primates on Earth.