G is for Gibbon
This incredible image of a lar gibbon leaping is by Tontan Travel on Flikr.
Gibbons are lightweight apes, lacking a tail, and are related to chimps, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, and humans.
Of all the non-human apes, they move bipedally (upright) most frequently. An estimated 10% of their time is spent moving along branches on two feet, their arms in the air for balance. Although they lack the two bends in the spine that make true walking possible all the time, they are studied by scientists who are investigating how we first became upright walkers.
Gibbons are in fact amazingly well-designed to move at speed (up to 35mph) through the trees using a method known as brachiation. They have incredibly long arms and hook-shaped hands that grasp branches well enough to swing from arm to arm in a pendulum-like way, and as they are so light they can fling themselves with some force by letting go of one branch before grasping another up to 50 feet ahead.
They are omnivorous, but favour ripe fruit, particularly figs.
Gibbons live in small troops led by an alpha male and female, and unusually for primates, they mate for life.
Known as quite vocal, the forest often echoes with their haunting calls, and they gather to sing quite complex songs. Scientists have recently deciphered many of their calls as specific ‘words’ naming different animals and predators, and warning signals.
Nearly all species of gibbon are considered endangered by deforestation and habitat loss.
Here is my gibbon poem:
Gibbons are all great leapers,
from tree to tree they spring,
apes in great shape to brachiate
they really like to swing,
hook hands to grip on branches,
long arms to reach and fling,
they walk a branch by shuffle
but much prefer to swing,
in the evening forest
they gather round to sing,
they’re clinging, springing, singing things
the jungle kings of swing!
© Liz Brownlee
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Prose and Poem © Liz Brownlee, all rights reserved, not to be used in any manner whatsoever without the permission of the author.