The Taipei Zoo cooperated with the National Defense Medical College of R.O.C. to initiate the project "Phylogenetic analysis of gibbons at Taipei Zoo" in August, 1999. During that project, we collected hairs and blood for DNA analysis. The molecular indicated that 30 gibbons at the Taipei Zoo were 4 Hylobates agilis, 17 H. lar, 4 H. muelleri, 1 Nomascus leucogenys, 2 N. gabriellae, 1 Symphalangus syndactylus, and one gibbon with ambivalent sequence data. In addition, 1 gibbon housed outside the Taipei Zoo was 1 H. muelleri, and 2 captive gibbons at Shanghai Zoological Park were 2 N. leucogenys.

During a survey in 2000, we collected hairs and blood for molecular analysis and obtained photographs of gibbon fur coloration from additional zoos and conservation centers in Taiwan. In 2001, Alan Mootnick assisted a morphological survey of the gibbons housed at the Taipei Zoo and zoos in the northern region. Our surveys include 111 captive gibbons in Taiwan.

During surveys in 2002, we will tape-record song bouts of the gibbons housed in Taiwan; these will be identified by Thomas Geissmann in Germany. In cooperation with zoos in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, we have begun surveying the captive gibbons of the South East Asian Zoos Association (SEAZA). The Taipei Zoo plans to establish a comprehensive database of the captive gibbon populations in South-east Asia including molecular data, vocal data and fur coloration data. This data base could serve as an important tool for ex-situ gibbon conservation.