Field primatology expanded rapidly in the late 20th century as biologists began to study apes and monkeys where they lived rather than only in museums or laboratories. Southeast Asia’s rainforests became an important setting for that shift. Among the researchers who helped shape the discipline there was David Chivers, a British primatologist whose work on gibbons and other forest apes combined long stretches of field observation with a commitment to conservation. He died on March 5th, aged 81.
Chivers arrived at the University of Cambridge in 1963 and, in practice, remained there for the rest of his career. After studying medical sciences and physical anthropology, he turned away from clinical veterinary training to pursue research on primates. His doctoral work, completed in 1972, was based on field studies of siamangs in Peninsular Malaysia. At the time such projects demanded patience: weeks spent tracking animals through dense forest and learning their habits by steady observation.
That work produced The Siamang in Malaya, a monograph published in 1974 that became a reference point for later studies of primate ecology. Chivers was interested both in behavior and in how primates fit into forest systems. Feeding patterns, fruit availability, and the role of animals in dispersing seeds all became part of the picture.
His later research extended across Southeast Asia and beyond. In the mid-1980s he helped establish Project Barito Ulu in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, examining how fruit-eating wildlife contributed to forest regeneration. The project brought together international researchers and Indonesian institutions, and it anchored a large share of his later supervision of doctoral students. Over his career he guided around fifty PhD projects, many of them focused on gibbons or orangutans.
At Cambridge he held posts in veterinary anatomy and biological anthropology, eventually becoming Professor in Primate Biology and Conservation and Director of Studies in Veterinary Medicine at Selwyn College. Students there came to know him as a determined advocate for the veterinary course. He referred to them simply as “my vets,” and defended their interests with enthusiasm that could spill into college committees and meetings.
His attachment to gibbons was well known. They fascinated him for their territorial songs, which carry across forests at dawn. Chivers could reproduce the calls himself with surprising accuracy, a party piece that circulated widely among students and colleagues.
Late in his career his attention turned increasingly to conservation questions, particularly the fate of orangutans and other apes as Southeast Asian forests declined. He supported work on rehabilitation and reintroduction while continuing to argue that protecting habitat remained the central task.
Chivers spent much of his professional life explaining that gibbons were not monkeys but apes. The correction came quickly when needed, and usually with good humor. For someone who had devoted decades to listening to their songs in the forest canopy, the distinction mattered.
Banner image: David Chivers. Courtesy of Selwyn College
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