A rare Javan gibbon was born at a wildlife park in the U.K., one of the world’s main centers for the species’ captive breeding. Lima, now just over 2 months old, is a potential candidate for returning to the species’ native habitat on the Indonesian island of Java.
The Javan gibbon (Hylobates moloch), known locally as owa, is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. A 2017 study estimated a wild population of between 2,640 and 4,178 individuals. This number is declining due to habitat destruction, forest fragmentation, and poaching for the illegal pet trade and bushmeat trade.
“We’re very happy that we’ve got a new baby at our site and we’re very happy that she may be something that could be reintroduced into the future as well, back into the wild,” said Simon Jeffery, the animal director at Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve in the southern U.K. county of Kent, where Lima was born. Jeffery is also the animal director at the nearby Howletts Wild Animal Park.
Both parks, run by U.K. charity The Howletts Wild Animal Trust, together hold 26 Javan gibbons, representing around 40-50% of the global captive population, Jeffery told Mongabay by phone. Many Javan gibbons born there have since been rehomed, he added.
The trust has bred Javan gibbons since the early 1980s, recording more than 50 births across both parks in the past two decades. Since 2012, it has also sent around 10 individuals to Java.
Lima, whose name means “five” in Indonesian, is the fifth offspring of her parents, Belle and Gapak, both also captive-born.
“Belle is a very, very good mother. She’s had lots of kids before, so we weren’t too worried,” Jeffery said. “[Belle and Gapak] get on very, very well as a couple.”
Belle will likely be placed on contraceptives for a couple of years to avoid her genes becoming overrepresented in the small European population of Javan gibbons.
Releasing a captive-born gibbon into the wild can take years of preparation for the team. They run extensive medical tests to ensure the animals are completely disease-free, and adjust their diets in the U.K. to match what’s available in the wild, even importing Javan fruit so the animals can get used to it before the move.
In Java, the gibbons spend a month in quarantine, then move into progressively larger enclosures, before a soft release into a protected forest, where a partner organization tracks them in the wild.
“What’s unique about the Javan gibbons is it’s actually the female that does all the calling and controls the territory, not the males,” Jeffrey said. “They’re fantastic to look at. How they move and how they break into branches, it’s just amazing to watch.”
Javan gibbons travel from branch to branch by overhand swinging, called brachiation, and can cover distances of 10 meters (33 feet) between swings.
Banner image: Javan gibbon Lima and her mother, Belle. All images courtesy of Port Lympne.
Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the parks’ operator.
