Battle for Survival

Their large, expressive eyes, whiskered faces and comically oversized arms help make the pileated gibbon a popular pet in Thailand.

But when they reach puberty, they often turn on their owners, snapping large, razor-sharp canines and powerfully kicking and swinging their arms as they attack.

As a result, thousands of the creatures have been released onto the streets of Bangkok to fend for themselves, or they’re chained to the front gate at the downtown zoo, said Lori K. Sheeran, a Cal State Fullerton assistant professor of anthropology and primatology, who is playing a key role in the international effort to protect the small, tailless apes on the verge of extinction.

Misguided attempts to domesticate the cuddly-looking primates are just one of the factors endangering several different species of gibbons: In some areas of Southeast Asia, development is rapidly destroying their rain forest habitat, while in other areas the animals are considered a delicacy.

“People are hunting and eating the apes,” Sheeran said. “It’s a big problem. . . . The main way to get the babies is to kill their mothers, take them out of the wild and sell them in the markets.”

Little is done to enforce the laws that protect the creatures, she said.

“The government is aware of their endangered status and has laws against poachers, but the local people seem to be less concerned because the laws are not enforced and many don’t think of wildlife as a treasure,” she said.

“The fate of these animals rests in the hands of people,” Sheeran said, her voice reflecting a sense of urgency.

She began studying one particular species--the black gibbon--in the wild because of the lack of research in that area.

After joining two Chinese primatologists for a closer look at the small apes in the Yunnan Province of China seven years ago, she shifted her focus to conservation projects throughout the region.

Sheeran and her research team are working to raise awareness about the plight of the black gibbons in China, where only 300 to 1,000 are believed to be living.

Sheeran also is serving as consultant to the Royal Thai Forestry Department, which is trying to develop a rehabilitation and reintroduction program in Thailand for the pileated gibbon. Another species, it is found only in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, according to gibbon experts.

The 33-year-old scientist said public awareness about the dwindling gibbon population and habitat is critical to their survival.

Her role in Thailand includes providing lessons on gibbons and their environment to schoolchildren and bringing college students to volunteer and work among the apes.

She also is soliciting grants for a special compound being built in Thailand, where ex-pets would be treated and rehabilitated.

“The project is in the works,” Sheeran said. “Ultimately, the healthy gibbons, who are used to people food, would gradually shift to a natural diet and be released as pairs into the rain forest. And we would follow them and keep track of them for at least four to five years to make sure they are acclimated to their environment.”

Such a project, however, will be doomed if the rain forests are eliminated. “It is very important to protect the environment so that the gibbons can live,” Sheeran said. “In the wild, they can live to be 30 to 35.”

Sheeran’s efforts are commendable, said officials of the World Conservation Union, based in Gland, Switzerland.

“In my estimation, primatologists should try to assist in conservation,” said Ardith A. Eudey, of the Union’s Species Survival Commission, Primate Specialist Group. “Lori has become concerned and engages in educational activities to give protection to the gibbon population.”

As a faculty member at Cal State Fullerton, Sheeran brings her experiences from abroad to the classroom and inspires her students to do field work with gibbons. The university credits her for much of the anthropology department’s popularity.

In the last three years, the number of graduate and undergraduate anthropology students has increased by more than 200%, said Susan Parman, chairwoman of the department.

“Lori works very well with students in conveying not only academic concepts, but also the moral and ethical issue that humans are not the only animals on the planet,” Parman said.

She said Sheeran and the rest of the department’s professors were the driving force behind the university’s new Anthropology Research Facility, which will feature a primatology lab when it opens in the fall.

Graduate student Christina Klein, 30, said she came to Fullerton from Chicago to study under Sheeran. “I got interested in gibbons and her name kept coming up,” Klein said. “She’s a great source of information.”

Klein now is an intern at the International Center for Gibbon Studies in Santa Clarita, where Sheeran also volunteers. The center is home to four endangered species of gibbons, who often are referred to as the songbirds of the primate family because they can project their voices up to two miles.

Sheeran recently led a tour of the center, telling the gibbons’ story. She stressed that the arboreal, or tree-dwelling, creatures are apes--not monkeys--and generally weigh 15 to 30 pounds. They eat fruits, leaves, flowers and bugs. In some species, the female adults are golden in color while the males are mostly dark-haired.

Sheeran said she hopes gibbons will not become extinct because there still is much to learn--maybe even about humans--from them.

“I have scientific questions about their mating systems, their ecology and their long-term changes in social behavior,” she said. “In some cases, we may be able to draw parallels between their behavior and human behavior. But without conservation, my study subjects will die off before I could answer my questions, that may take a lifetime to answer.”