Predicting Suitable Habitats for the Vulnerable Eastern Hoolock Gibbon, Hoolock leuconedys, in India Using the MaxEnt Model.

The eastern hoolock gibbon, Hoolock leuconedys, is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and assessed as a Schedule I species of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 in India. We predict the potential habitat of H. leuconedys in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India, using the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) distribution modelling algorithm. The model was developed using 90 known localities of H. leuconedys in the state. Nineteen environmental parameters along with 12 normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) layers, elevation and land use and land cover (LULC) were used in the modelling. Amongst the environmental input variables, the precipitation of the coldest quarter (BIO 19) had the highest contribution to the model (26.03%) and the twelve NDVI layers collectively contributed 60.91%. Two districts, Lower Dibang Valley and Lohit, which are known to contain H. leuconedys, occupied 64.75% of the predicted distribution area of the species. Thus, we aid in the identification of suitable areas for the reintroduction program of H. leuconedys that is planned by the Gibbon Conservation Breeding Centre, Biological Park, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India.