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Silvery Gibbons at
Perth and Taronga Zoos

Hylobates moloch

population at30 June 2002 - (2.2.)
population at 30 March 2003 - (2.3.)
population at Perth Zoo, 3 September 2004 - (2.2.)
population at Taronga Zoo, 3 September 2004 - (1.1.)

NEWS
The 5 1/2 year female, Regina, daughter of the breeding pair has been sent to Taronga zoo where she will be matched with a male from the UK.
Silvery Gibbons, (Hylobates moloch), also known as Javan Gibbons are found only on the island of Java in Indonesia. They are one of the rarest of primates, with approximately 2000 individuals in the wild. There are about 43 kept in captivity at eleven institutions, Perth Zoo, in Australia, being one of them.

Perth Zoo has had a very successful record with breeding this species. Its original pair, which were captured from the wild, reared two males, Uban born 6th Nov 1980 and Shelby born 18th May 1983. Shelby is now at the International Center for Gibbon Studies, where he has sired three young.

The male of the original pair died on the 19th Dec 1984 while the female died on the 31st Oct 1994.The second pair of gibbon arrived at the zoo in August 1992 and have established themselves as a successful breeding pair.

The new pair are a male born at Berlin Zoo on the 17th July 1986, Jury and female Hecla born 21st July 1983. Since their arrival the pair have bred four times, though a son, born in 1997, died on the same day of his birth. Their other young are -
Females

  • Khusus, born on the 13th January 1995 is now at the International Center for Gibbon Studies, where she is mated with a male originally from Moscow. On the 27th Feb 2002, she gave birth to her first youngster, a female called Medina. The father is Ushko.
  • Regina, born 20th April 1998 and is now at Taronga Zoo.
Male
  • Arjuna, the latest offspring, born November 24th 2000.
The Silvery Gibbon Project
The following information was obtained from the website of the PERTH ZOO

The Silvery Gibbon Project was formed in 1991 by staff and volunteers at Perth Zoo. These people were concerned with the plight of the Silvery Gibbon and its diminishing habitat in Java. The Project has an ongoing commitment to the Gunung Halimun National Park , where about 100 Silvery Gibbon still survive. For further information, visit the Silvery Gibbon website.

Other Breeding Institutions
Thank you to the ISGC for providing me with the following informaton.

The INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR GIBBON STUDIES is the only place in the United States that is currently breeding the Silvery Gibbon. They have two breeding pairs, Khusus and Ushko, (mentioned left), and Shelby (born at Perth Zoo) and Chloe (born at Assinboine Park Zoo, Canada). This pair have had three young, Isaac (born 19 Jan 1998), Reg (born 29th Jan 2000), and their latest, Lionel (born 6th Nov 2001).

HOWLETTS ZOO PARK also has breeding pairs of the gibbon. At the moment they have the largest population of gibbons (9.10.) and two young were recently born there.

TARONGA ZOO
Taronga Zoo has just joined the breeding program for the Silvery Gibbon in 2004. Regina a young female born at Perth zoo and a male, Halimun, a 7 1/2 year old male born at Howletts were introduced and apparently fell into each others arms! A great start to hopefully a successful pair bonding. The Gibbons will be exhibited at the zoos new Asian Rainforest Exhibit.
Halimun was born on 23rd January 1996 to parents Imran and Marlene, both of whom were wild born.

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