Susan Cheyne

Originally from Scotland, I have worked in Asia since 1997 and in Indonesia since 2002. My PhD at Cambridge was focused on the scientific assessment of gibbon rehabilitation – can gibbons raised as pets truly return to the wild? This has led to ongoing work for gibbon rehabilitation and working with a coalition of NGO’s to tackle the illegal wildlife trade in gibbons (online and in markets).  I have a focus on primate ecology and conservation looking into the illegal pet trade of gibbons and studying the rehabilitation and reintroduction successes of these threatened apes as well as focusing on conservation research to inform actions for wild small ape conservation. While working in Indonesia I have built a deep interest in the conservation of wild cats across Indonesian Borneo. As a co-director of Borneo Nature Foundation International, I lead teams working on research and conservation of gibbons, red langurs and macaques and since 2008 on Bornean wild cats and other mammals where we are using camera trap technology to understand the movement, distribution and conservation status of these threatened species.  The BNF gibbon project started in 2005 is now the second longest running continuous wild gibbon project in the world. 

Since 2005 I have led the second longest continuous gibbon behavioural ecology study with a focus on using sound scientific research to understand the small apes to inform conservation actions. Topics of interest are behavioural ecology, singing behaviour play development, ranging, impacts of anthropogenic disturbance population densities and trends, feeding ecology, using new technology to study gibbons e.g. song, infant development, inter-birth intervals and much more.

Since 2015 I am the Vice-Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group Section on Small Apes (www.gibbons.asia). The main functions of the SSA are aiding communication between gibbon experts worldwide, providing digital resources and practical help to conservation and education projects, provide help and resources and monitor and evaluate gibbon distributions and populations. Gibbons are relatively unknown and little understood, so we raise public awareness of their needs, traits, and threats. The main functions of the SSA are aiding communication between gibbon experts worldwide, providing digital resources and practical help to conservation and education projects, and helping fellow gibbonologists get their work funded. The IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group’s Section on Small Apes (SSA) is a group of gibbon experts from around the world that individually and collectively work to conserve gibbons. The SSA was set up in 2011 because of the serious threat of extinction that gibbons face globally. The major threats to gibbons include loss of habitat and hunting pressure, often for the wildlife trade. The SSA is a group of more than 250 gibbon experts globally, with a shared vision of conserving the world’s gibbons. Within this symposium we will explore current topics relating to gibbon conservation including captive and wild research and conservation, population and distribution information and engaging communities. The SSA contributes to gibbon conservation through:1) Strengthening coordination; 2) Increasing awareness of good practice; 3) Providing IUCN-endorsed guidelines; 4) Developing Conservation Action Plans; 5) Ensuring the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is thorough and up-to-date and 6) Providing direct technical support to gibbon conservation.  

I am a Senior Lecturer in Biological Anthropology and Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University, where I have worked since 2010 helping to teach and mentor some of the next generation of conservation biologists at undergraduate, MSc, MRes and PhD levels. I received the 2017 Marsh Award for Conservation Biology in partnership with the Zoological Society of London. I am a Royal Geographical Society fellow and an IUCN Cat Specialist Group member.

I have published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and contributed to 4 books. I a co-editor of Get your hands on the latest gibbon book! “Gibbon Conservation in the Anthropocene“. All about the smallest apes: gibbons and siamang representing 20 species across 11 countries in Asia. This is only the third book since the 1980s devoted to gibbons and presents cutting-edge research covering a wide variety of topics including ecology, behaviour, conservation, phylogenetics and taxonomy as well as how to work with people for gibbon conservation. 

This book began as an idea born from the gibbon symposium I organised in 2018 at the International Primatological Society meeting in Nairobi. Written by gibbon researchers and practitioners from across the world, the book discusses conservation challenges in the Anthropocene and presents practice-based approaches and strategies to save these singing, swinging apes from extinction. We demonstrate how using sound and high-quality science can lead to direct conservation actions for the small apes. A reference resource for researchers and students interested in the small apes specifically, as well as researchers interested in the gibbon perspective on a number of theoretical issues in primatology. By providing the most up-to-date review of gibbon and siamang biogeography, behavioural ecology, conservation with a focus on ethnoprimatology, this volume does an outstanding job in significantly adding to our knowledge of small apes. The intended readership is all members of the SSA (present and future), members of the wider Primate Specialist Group of the IUCN, field and academic primatologists and students on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in primatology. With a broad range of topics from genetics to habitat conservation, to local community conservation and the application of social science methods, this book will appeal to a wide audience.

I am passionate about using science for conservation action and promoting personal and institutional resilience in the primatology community. I love stand-up paddleboarding and gig rowing and cooking, especially bringing back recipes from my travels.