The gibbons (family Hylobatidae) represent one of world’s most threatened group of taxa. In theory they are an attractive group for interdisciplinary research but are often unconsciously overlooked. We conducted a systematic review in Web of Science and Google Scholar between January 1900 and February 2020 using PRISMA guidelines and strict search criteria to investigate (1) the number of mixed-method biosocial studies published on gibbons; (2) focus species and countries; (3) social analytical approaches used; and (4) the success of this approach in elucidating conservation issues. Only 31 mixed-method biosocial studies have been published on gibbons, 56 per cent on Nomascus species but none on Symphalangus. China and Vietnam were the most popular study locations. Optimistically, 68 per cent of publications were led by gibbon-range country researchers, but only 48 per cent of studies represented international collaborations; 81 per cent of studies addressed a conservation-related topic, highlighting the potential efficacy of using this approach in primate conservation research. However, few studies provided details of data collection methods, methods of analysis and sample sizes, and only one study used an anthropological analytical approach. We therefore encourage further cross-disciplinary international collaborations to better our understanding of human–gibbon relations on a deeper, more contextual level.

Since 2005, Borneo Nature Foundation has produced 50 peer-reviewed papers/book chapters on gibbons plus several reports, standard operating procedures, training materials and DVDs. Here we present 15 years of long-term wild gibbon behavioural data that represents one of the longest continuous datasets on any gibbon species. Not only has our knowledge of gibbons increased, but the profile of the small apes has also increased since 2005. This review presents data gathered by the Borneo Nature Foundation, highlighting new insights into gibbon behavioural ecology and conservation lessons learnt. Gibbons are proving to be relatively consistent in their behaviour, irrespective of changes in group demography. Although threats to gibbons across their range remain high, they demonstrate their ability to adapt their behaviour to anthropogenic disturbance. While flexible in behaviour (e.g. adapting travel routes in disturbed habitat), there is a threshold at which a forest becomes unsuitable for sustaining viable gibbon populations. We must understand more about their behavioural ecology in order to determine this threshold to help protect gibbons.

Narratives are presented on the first studies of white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) in Khao Yai National Park and pileated gibbons (Hylobates pileatus) in Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand. We describe local methods of camping (adapted from non-timber forest product (NTFP) collectors and cardamom harvesters) during the habituation process for studying gibbon behaviour in both areas. Gibbons were successfully habituated by a British physical anthropologist, Jeremy Raemaekers, who laid down the foundations for studies on white-handed gibbons in Khao Yai. Meanwhile, conservation work was being done on pileated gibbons in Khao Soi Dao by local Thai biologists. A television documentary on pileated gibbons, made by a local Thai celebrity, used situation comedy in real-field situations to raise local awareness about the gibbons, and helped to reconnect conservation efforts. We recommend that education in local schools should address conservation efforts and include knowledge on gibbon recolonisation after conservation interventions. This chapter reflects the local perspectives on both local and international primatologists contributing towards the field of ‘gibbonology’ and should be considered an additional style of describing ‘ethnoprimatology’ by biologists from a primate habitat country.

Notions of decadence, decline, and decay are intrinsically linked to the history of art. The discipline’s three recognized forefathers ? Giorgio Vasari, Johann Joachim Winckelmann, and Heinrich Wölfflin ? all relied on the concept of decadence (and its antonym, progress) to make sense of the history of the visual arts and to evaluate the art of their times. A developmental model of art was central to the interpretative schemes of these art historians. In this organicist model, earlier developments prepare the stage for what comes later; and after a particular style flourishes for a time, its decline is inevitable as newer styles overtake it. Decadent artists such as Gustave Moreau and Aubrey Beardsley mock aesthetic standards and moral rules, precluding universal appreciation, and proudly so. Decadent artists and decadent audiences are estranged from their society and feel disdain for those who are scandalized by decadent art’s innovative form and immoral subject matter.

In sociological terms, decadence serves as a classifier for categorizing pathological social conditions that catalyse ‘decline.’ While the term ‘decadence’ itself has not been explicitly used in much sociological scholarship, the structure of decadence has been deployed to situate related concepts like anomie and alienation in narratives of decline. With respect to artistic production, the ‘decadent role’ may be such that pathological attributes become accepted or expected to the point that they confer artistic legitimacy. Hence the decadent role becomes acceptable under a creative mandate; that is, individual artists may present the pathological features of social decline so long as they connect those decadent attributes to creative output. This sociological dynamic helps to explain why the work of certain nineteenth-century decadents ? such as Oscar Wilde ? is now held in high artistic regard. In the case of Wilde, his reputation as an artist has survived efforts to label him as pathological, so he has posthumously ‘lived up’ to the creative mandate his decadence entailed.