Helping the World’s Rarest Ape: How Your Monkey Adoptions Support Hainan Gibbon Conservation
18th Aug 2025
Conservation is at the heart of everything we do. While our free-roaming Barbary macaques inspire thousands of visitors each year, the impact of your visit and the baby monkey adoption packs goes far beyond Staffordshire.
Thanks to this support, we’re proud to help fund vital international conservation projects through the Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB), including an inspiring new project to protect the Hainan gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) in China.
Why the Hainan Gibbon Matters...
The Hainan gibbon is amongst the world’s rarest apes, with only around 37 individuals left in the wild.
Found only in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, China, this critically endangered primate faces challenges from habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict, and a lack of community-led conservation initiatives.
Unlike some species that benefit from large NGO programmes, the Hainan gibbon’s survival depends on smaller, community-driven projects that bring people and wildlife together. That’s where this PSGB-supported initiative comes in.
A Community-Based Approach
The project, led by Cloud Mountain Conservation in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London, is pioneering new ways to protect the Hainan gibbon by working hand-in-hand with local communities.
The main goals of the project
- Document traditional knowledge – engaging elders and local families to understand the history of gibbons and their relationship with people.
- Identify conflict drivers – mapping where gibbons and people overlap to reduce future problems.
- Co-create solutions – designing conservation initiatives with the Li and Miao communities, ensuring they are culturally appropriate and sustainable.
- Influence policy – sharing findings with local and national authorities to embed community-led conservation into long-term planning.
- By placing local voices at the centre of conservation, the project challenges traditional top-down models and instead empowers communities to become champions for their forest and its wildlife.
Lasting Impact
In the short term, this project will run workshops, share knowledge between conservationists in Hainan and Yunnan, and produce a policy brief to guide future action.
In the long term, it aims to shift the balance of conservation in China, ensuring that people and gibbons can coexist and thrive together.
How You Help
Every time someone adopts the babies at Trentham Monkey Forest, a portion of that adoption fee goes directly towards projects like this one.
Your support doesn’t just care for the Barbary macaques in Staffordshire; it helps protect some of the most endangered primates on Earth!
