Which primate is the only ape found naturally in India?

The hoolock gibbon is the only ape found naturally in India. Its range includes northeastern India, especially forests south of the Brahmaputra, as well as parts of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and southwestern China.

Hoolock gibbons are lesser apes in the family Hylobatidae, not monkeys. Like other apes, they lack an external tail. They swing through the canopy using long arms, form family groups, and produce loud calls that carry through the forest. Males are generally black with prominent pale eyebrows, while females are usually grey-brown.

The name refers to a genus containing multiple living hoolock species. The western hoolock is the species most associated with India, while the eastern hoolock and skywalker gibbon occur farther east. India’s northeastern states provide the species’ only Indian habitat.

Ape is the key distinction in this question. Pileated and lar gibbons are also apes, and siamangs are the largest gibbons, but none occurs naturally in India. Other Indian primates, such as macaques and langurs, are monkeys rather than apes.