Hylobates moloch

PROTECTED STATUS: CITES - Appendix I as Hylobates spp. and U. S. ESA - Endangered as Hylobates spp. (including Nomascus spp.).

Sumber: Order Primates

Habitat. Primary lowland and lower montane rainforest up to 2400 m above sea level (but normally below 1600 m). Moloch Gibbons prefer floristically rich patches of relatively undisturbed forest, but they can tolerate moderate disturbance.

Sumber: Hylobatidae

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Home ranges of Moloch Gibbons are 17 - 60 ha, most of which is defended. In general, males are aggressive toward other males and also defend their territory from external threats. Females lead the group’s daily progressions and keep away other females. It is believed that Moloch Gibbons, like Kloss’s Gibbons (H. klossii), do not duet, but more detailed studies are needed to confirm this. Median densities are 2 - 7 groups / km? or 9 ind / km? in lowland forest (below 500 m above sea level), 2: 6 groups / km? * or 8: 6 ind / km? in hill forest (500 — 1000 m), and 0 - 6 groups / km? or 1 - 5 ind / km? in low montane forest (1000 - 1750 m).

Sumber: Hylobatidae

Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix I. Classified as Endangered on The IUCN Red List. Moloch Gibbons live on one of the world’s most densely populated islands, and they have been severely affected by loss of habitat. Despite protection by law since 1924, numbers of Moloch Gibbons have continued to slide to perilously low levels. Historical deforestation that affected Java in colonial times still maintains an overriding presence on the landscape, effectively restricting the arboreal Moloch Gibbon to continuous tracts of forest around mountain and volcano tops. Habitat disturbance today is relatively low, and populations, while isolated, appear to have stabilized. Wildlife trade exerts an as yet unknown effect on the Moloch Gibbon. It occurs in more than 15 locations, of which nine are protected: Gunung Gede Pangrango, Gunung Halimun, and Ujung Kulon national parks, Gunung Papandayan, Gunung Kedeng, and Gunung Slamet protection forests, and Gunung Tilu, Gunung Simpang, and Telaga Warna protected areas. These gibbons are also found in the Situ Gunung Tourist Park, which offers some degree of protection. The second largest population in the Dieng Mountains is unprotected. More than 95 % of the Moloch Gibbons are in populations of more than 100 individuals, and the four largest areas support more than 500 each. In 2002, the wild population was estimated at 4000 - 4500, and in 2008 at less than 2500 mature individuals.