Tasmania Zoo welcomes rare gibbon baby for first-time parents

After years of waiting, a critically-endangered primate pair has finally had a swinging success that’s got keepers going wild at Tasmania Zoo. The story behind the new bundle of joy.

The new Northern White-Cheeked Gibbon baby born at Tasmania Zoo, which is not yet named. Picture: Tasmania Zoo.

Tasmania Zoo is celebrating the birth of the first baby for new parents at the zoo, as well as the breeding success for a critically-endangered species at their zoo.

The northern white-cheeked gibbon, native to areas of Southeast Asia, is part of an Australian-wide breeding program where breeding gibbons are shared between participating zoos to assist in conservation efforts for the species.

The new northern white-cheeked gibbon baby at Tasmania Zoo. Picture: Tasmania Zoo

Tasmania Zoo head keeper Riley Lowe said there were only around 200 breeding pairs of northern white-cheeked gibbons in the wild.

“We paired a female gibbon named Maka from France with our male Jin who was from another zoo in Australia,” Mr Lowe said.

“Jin was paired with a female at the previous zoo for six years and didn’t have any success with breeding, so we’re extremely excited that the pair have had success.”

This is the third baby gibbon born at Tasmania Zoo and is the second in the last year.

Mr Lowe said the gibbons had been a strong interest for the public, with the new baby joy expected to spread the news of their plight.

Northern white-cheeked gibbon mother Maka and her new baby at Tasmania Zoo. Picture: Tasmania Zoo

“They are really popular with the public and our other breeding partners are beginning to have fun and play in their enclosures,” he said.

“We love that it gets people intrigued and they learn that the species is critically endangered and their story.”

A name will not yet be decided on for the new addition, with Mr Lowe stating it takes around a year to 18 months to sex a baby once the baby begins to ween off of its mother and can be picked up by keepers.

Originally published as Tasmania Zoo welcomes rare gibbon baby for first-time parents