“The new swingers at the zoo!”

“Funky gibbon song near you”

Exmoor zoo has been lucky to get recommended a possible breeding pair of lar gibbons to exhibit from the European breeding program.

Jasmine with her fruit treat

Jasmine investigating a basket for hidden fruit

Gibbons all occur in the Indonesia region and as they can only live in quality original rainforest, they are fast disappearing from our world and have become endangered species!

The smallest of the apes (no tails), gibbons are famous for their ability to swing which is called brachiation. They also have a unique morning song that is sung by the adults on waking up to let other gibbons in the forest know where they are as they all have their own territories.

Our young pair of gibbons have only just begun to try and sing together as they have come from different families. The male called “Nuramol” is from Stuttgart zoo in Germany and “Jasmine” has come from Broxbourne in Hertfordshire! We suspect as they get better at their morning duet their haunting morning song may be heard for quite some distance!

Gibbons do not naturally leave their parents until they are about six – eight years old and living to nearly forty in captivity we hope to be able to have some young gibbons born in the fullness of time and on exhibit here.