Deep in the Kenyir rainforest, Dr. Aini Hasanah Abd Mutalib is listening to protect what we can no longer afford to lose: our wildlife. 

Using Passive Acoustic Monitoring, she tracks endangered small apes like the white-handed gibbon and Siamang. Their haunting duets reveal vital clues about habitat, communication, and territorial behavior, key insights for protecting a species with fewer than 200,000 left.

Despite visual impairment, Dr. Aini is pioneering bioacoustic conservation in Malaysia, tracking elusive apes without disturbing their habitat. Her research reveals how these primates regenerate over 70% of tree species, vital to sustaining forest ecosystems.

Dr. Aini’s mission is simple but urgent: to listen, to protect, and to ensure that Malaysia’s forests — and the voices within them — are never lost.

Aini received the Merdeka Award Grant for International Attachment in (2021) to Cornell Centre for Conservation Bioacoustic, (USA).

Read more about his Grant experience here:
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