TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A baby gibbon was welcomed into Zoo Miami’s family this past week!
According to the South Florida zoo, a critically endangered white-cheeked gibbon was born on Saturday, Sept. 4. It is the only the second white-cheeked gibbon born in the zoo’s history.
The baby’s 18-year-old mother named Millie is also the mother of the first baby gibbon born in August of 2013. This is the first offspring of the 9-year-old father named Cuong.
Although there has been no confirmation as to the sex of the baby, Zoo Miami says early observations indicate that it is a male.
The baby, along with its mother and father, made its public debut Thursday for only about an hour while their exhibit mates, mother and daughter Orangutans, were kept in their night house to ensure that there was no interaction that might harm the baby.
According to Zoo Miami, these endangered primates are naturally found in the canopy of tropical forests in Southeast Asia where they feed on a variety of fruits, leaves, and insects.
“They are monogamous animals known for their high-pitched territorial calls that can be heard over great distances in the forest. They use their extremely long arms to acrobatically swing through the trees and contrary to popular belief, are not monkeys, but rather lesser apes, due in part to the lack of a tail,” the zoo said in a release.
Once the zoo staff feels that the new addition and its parents have acclimated well to their habitat, they will slowly be introduced to the Orangutans.
