There’s been some monkey business going on lately at the Idaho Falls Zoo, culminating in the birth of a grey gibbon named Sid.
Born earlier this spring, this latest edition to the Idaho Falls Zoo primate community is one of only 16 captive Mueller’s grey gibbons living in the United States.
Zoo officials note that due to Sid’s unusually sharp teeth, his mother has – quite naturally – resisted in efforts to nurse him. Zoo staff and volunteers have stepped in to hand-raise him until he is old enough to reunite with his parents.
According to Zoo Operations Manager Linda Beard, hand-raising a gibbon is an extremely complicated and time-intensive process. The animal requires around-the-clock attention, just like a human baby.
Sid is out of sight from public view for now, but members of the Tautphaus Park Zoological Society will get a sneak peek at a “Baby Shower” at the zoo this evening. (FYI: Zoo memberships to the Society are available at www.tpzs.info or at the zoo gift shop.)
Gibbons belong to the same primate group as chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans. Although favorable conditions have been created for them to thrive at the Idaho Falls Zoo, their native habitat is the rainforests of Borneo, where spend their days foraging in trees. Mueller’s gibbons are known for their characteristic long arms and thumbs, as well as a ball-and-socket shoulder joint that aids them in their branch-to-branch acrobatics.