Gibbons: Mapping the genome of the acrobatic ape

A white-handed gibbon swings on a rope on at 'Tiergarten Schoenbrunn' Zoo in Vienna. - Reuters

The gibbon, the most monkey-like among the apes, has finally been genetically mapped – and the findings are quite extraordinary.

Gibbons – the small, long-armed tree swingers that inhabit the dense tropical forests of Southeast Asia – have become the last of the planet’s apes to have their genetic secrets revealed.