the white-handed gibbon is native to phuket, but the species was poached to extinction from phuket between the 70's and early 80's, mainly to use a tourist photo prop. grp is the longest operating gibbon re-introduction project in the world, despite early re-introduction attempts in the 1990's not being successful. since 2002, however, grp's work has been groundbreaking, with the breeding program of white-handed gibbons (hylobates lar) into the khao phra thaew forest on phuket. this forest was originally selected as it was the largest remaining evergreen rainforest on the mainland of phuket covering an area of 2,228 ha.
