Is it time to give up on them? Jessica Bryant

WHAT is the world’s rarest mammal? If you have no idea, you’re not alone. The Hainan gibbon – current head count 26 – may be on the brink, but there is barely a murmur of publicity about efforts to conserve it.

Maybe that is no surprise. We often hear about extremely rare species only once it is too late. The plight of the baiji, for example, only came to the world’s attention after the last sighting in 2002. Five years later it was extinct.

Given this precedent, what odds do we have of saving the gibbon? Is it even worth trying? Those are key questions in conservation biology right now (see “Too cute to lose: Saving the rarest mammal from extinction“). Some argue that we should only invest in relatively healthy populations or ecosystems rather than fight rearguard actions to save species on the edge.


That is a valid point. However, the Hainan gibbon increasingly represents the future of conservation. Vertebrate populations have declined by about half since 1970, and more and more species are dwindling towards extinction. Working out what can be done for those that have been reduced to Hainan gibbon levels will only become a more common problem. Efforts to save it are clearly worthwhile, if only to learn lessons that will maximise future success.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Go ape? Not just yet”