THE WORLD'S RAREST APE HAS GROWN TO 44.
Forty-four, from the brink.
The Hainan gibbon remains the world's rarest ape, but its population has risen to 44 animals in seven family groups. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, hunting and habitat loss had reduced the species to roughly seven to nine individuals. Conservation teams in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park track the gibbons by their dawn calls and camera systems, restore forest corridors and plant native food trees. More than 300,000 native trees have been planted, alongside 38 rope corridors and about 333 hectares of habitat restoration. Forty-four is still a precariously small population. But decades of focused protection have turned a near-certain disappearance into a living recovery.
WHAT HAPPENED
Updated figures published in 2026 put the wild population at 44 animals across seven groups, up from 37 animals in six groups in 2023.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
This is not a victory lap; it is proof of concept. Patient habitat work, monitoring and protection can keep even an extraordinarily small wild population moving in the right direction.
ORIGINAL SOURCEHainan International Media CenterRead the original report
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