Skywalker gibbon couples wake up each morning and sing to each other, their voices echoing across the forest canopy of their home. The primate’s endearing love song helped scientists confirm what was formerly a strong hunch: Myanmar has the largest population of endangered Skywalker gibbons on Earth.
When Star Wars-loving scientists identified Skywalker gibbons as a distinct species in 2017, fewer than 200 individuals were known to exist, all in southwestern China. in the International Journal of Primatology is the first in the past century to confirm living Skywalker gibbons in Myanmar.
The study was led by the Karen C. Drayer at the ÁńÁ«ĘÓƵ, Davis, which facilitated the formation of the Myanmar Skywalker Gibbon Conservation Committee. Led by Myanmar investigators and composed of Myanmar nongovernmental organizations, the group was tasked with leading these important discoveries in their country. Field expeditions were conducted by partner organizations, including Nature Conservation Society Myanmar and Fauna & Flora – Myanmar.
“We were able to genetically identify 44 new groups of Skywalker gibbons in Myanmar,” said senior author Tierra Smiley Evans, research faculty with the in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “This is a huge resource and success story for Myanmar.”
Exact numbers of individuals are unknown, but Skywalkers were identified in areas previously thought to be occupied by the Eastern hoolock gibbon. Population estimates from 2013 suggested that there could have been up to 65,000 gibbons in the area where Skywalkers have now been identified, making this the largest probable population of Skywalker gibbons in one place.
Scientists suspect today’s actual numbers are lower given ongoing hunting, limited protected areas and political unrest in Myanmar.
Love songs and chewed plants
Like their Jedi namesake, Skywalker gibbons cannot swim, so rivers tend to demarcate their species boundaries. This led scientists to think Skywalkers likely extended into Myanmar between two rivers to the west and another to the east, but their theory remained unconfirmed until this study.
Safety concerns related to civil and ethnic unrest, on top of a global pandemic, have limited primate surveys in Myanmar, especially by foreign scientists. Smiley Evans said the study was possible only through the efforts of the Myanmar field research team.
Between December 2021 and March 2023, the field team in Myanmar set up acoustic monitoring systems, listening each morning for the Skywalker gibbons’ love songs, recording their solos and duets, their start and end times.