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Guardians of the Gaoligong Mountains

Rangers shield endangered primates with diligence, scientific tools

By Li Lei and Li Yingqing in Baoshan | China Daily | Updated: 2026-02-24 09:12
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Rangers patrol the reserve in December 2020. JIANG WENYAO/XINHUA

From rumor to science

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the first photograph of what would eventually be recognized as the Skywalker hoolock gibbon — a creature long mistaken for its cousins across Myanmar, India and Bangladesh.

The journey from misclassification to discovery began in 2007, when researchers led by Fan Pengfei of Sun Yat-sen University started questioning the identity of China's gibbons. Photographs revealed subtle but consistent differences: males lacked the white beards and eye-patch markings of known species, while females showed less prominent white facial rings.

For the next decade, an international team pieced together evidence — examining 122 specimens in museums across China, the United States and Europe, analyzing teeth morphology, and sequencing DNA. They found China's gibbon population had diverged from the eastern hoolock gibbon around half a million years ago, a time frame comparable to other recognized primate species.

On Jan 11, 2017, the team formally described Hoolock tianxing in the American Journal of Primatology. The name combined "tianxing", an ancient Chinese term meaning "heavenly movement", with a nod to Star Wars — reflecting Fan's admiration for the franchise's Luke Skywalker.

When Li Jiahua arrived as the inaugural chief of the reserve's Nankang Management Station in late 1997 — where Yang now works — the gibbons were barely more than a rumor: occasional calls in the mist, fleeting glimpses before they vanished. Today, as deputy head of the reserve's Longyang bureau, he oversees a transformation from casual observation to precision science.

The breakthrough came on May 16, 2005, when Li's cousin and successor, Li Jiahong, captured the first clear photograph using an old film camera. That single image opened the door for researchers from multiple universities to study the mysterious apes.

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