Gibbons form lifelong monogamous pair bonds that are central to their welfare, making habitat loss and pair separation especially devastating to these singing apes.
Gibbon welfare is profoundly affected by their monogamous social structure. Pair separation causes extreme distress in animals that have formed lifelong bonds. Pet trade infants experience the traumatic loss of both parents and years of social deprivation that permanently affects behavioral development. Habitat fragmentation prevents young adults from finding mates, leaving them in prolonged asocial states incompatible with normal wellbeing. Rehabilitation of pet gibbons is long, expensive, and often incomplete because the critical social learning period cannot be recovered. Preventing capture and habitat loss is far more effective than any rescue intervention.