The world's rarest ape is climbing back — from 7 to 44

In the early 1980s, as few as seven Hainan gibbons survived in a single patch of rainforest. By the end of 2025 the population reached 44 — the only gibbon population on Earth still growing — thanks to five years of patrols, forest restoration and village partnerships in Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, where rangers also documented 91 species new to science.