Expedition to search for hybrid gibbons

Science - Pete Wilton | 20 Apr 11. This July an expedition will set out for the central highlands of Indonesian Borneo to sample the biodiversity of uncharted areas, track ape populations and find out how remote communities interact with their environment. Among the 20-strong BRINCC Expedition team of conservation biologists will be Susan Cheyne of Oxford University's WildCRU , one of the leaders of the OuTrop Project. The team will follow the route of the Murung River, a major tributary of the Barito River , surveying the sort of wildlife - apes, birds, insects, reptiles and amphibians - essential to the health of a tropical forest ecosystem. The researchers are particularly keen to find out more about nocturnal species. Susan is one of the team with a special interest in the area's hybrid gibbons: a hybrid of the Bornean agile gibbon ( Hylobates albibarbis ) and Müller's Bornean gibbon ( Hylobates muelleri ) about which little is known. These apes currently have no status on IUCN , Susan explains, despite being a naturally occurring, viable and thriving population.