Rare Silvery Gibbon Joins Prague Zoo

Photo from Euronews

A rare Silvery Gibbon joined the Prague Zoo on Tuesday.

“Everything (referring to delivery) went well, with no problems. We found the baby last Monday and it was already clean. The mother takes very good care of it, the grip and sucking reflexes (of the baby) are very good which is the main indicator for successful development,” curator of the Prague Zoo, Vitek Lukas said.

The gibbon, who hasn’t got a name yet, was born nine days ago and is only the second of its kind (after his 3-year-old brother) to be born in captivity, Euronews reported.

The sex of the gibbon also hasn’t yet been announced yet. Its mother, 13-year-old Alang Alang, cuddled and protected it carefully while its father, Flip, watched the couple’s older son, 3-year-old Silver Arrow.

The Silvery Gibbon is extraordinarily rare. Silvery gibbons are native to the Indonesian island of Java and are classified as endangered, with less than 2000 individuals living in the wild at the eight sites that are considered genetically viable for the continuation of the species.

Silvery Gibbons tend to stay together with their families until they’re about six years old. They’re also monogamous.

Lukas said that the primate’s birth is critical to the breeding plan of the rare species.