The lar gibbon may be black or pale colored but even on the black-colored individuals the hands, feet, brow band and sides of the face are always pale-whitish. The pale-colored individuals are not quite white but sandy-brown, buff, beige and then sometimes an orange-brown. And what a lanky long-armed creature it is. Like all gibbons it is tree-dwelling and very rarely descends to the ground. Instead it uses its long arms and moves in the trees by swinging from branch to branch magically or if the mood strikes it runs up-right along large branches. It has no tail, like other apes, but this lesser (or smaller) ape shows the big apes what true branch swinging is all about. Its homeland is the forests of southeast Asia.

Largely vegetarian the lar gibbon feeds on fruit, leaves, shoots, buds and flowers and occasionally on insects. It likes to poke about and try out different foods but fruits make up about half of its diet and leaves are another big chunk. It doesn’t make a nest to sleep like some apes do but instead sits down and wraps its long arms around itself.

Lar gibbons live in family groups of two to six individuals including an adult male and female and their young spring of different ages. Females give birth to one young at intervals of 2 to 4 years they are pregnant for seven or seven-and-a-half months and the young remain with their mothers for at least 2 years. The gibbon families sometimes like to gather around singing or hooting. Their vocalizations can almost sound human. They do have territories which they like to protect from other gibbons but they can live in the same area as other gibbon species and other species of primates like siamangs or langurs.