Gibbons in Latin American Zoos

Hey Zoochatters,

I thought it would be an interesting concept to create a series of threads similar to those in other country / region forums on this site discussing different species kept across the region of Latin America ( I know Mexico is North America but it is included in this thread as part of the region based on it being a culturally Latin American country).

To begin with (and for no particular reason) I thought I'd start with gibbons so here goes.

Does anyone know zoos where these lesser apes are kept within the region ?

What species are kept and how many individuals ?

What are the enclosures like and are they adequate ?


Muchas Gracias / Obrigado / Thank you

 

The only information I have found is about the Siamangs in Guadalajara Zoo. I don't know quantity, but that's what the Internet haves

 

These are the places so far where I have been able to find records of gibbons being kept.

Brazil:

Lar gibbon : Sao Paulo zoo - A female called "Julia" that shared her enclosure with the orangutan (she is now sadly deceased).

Siamang : Goiânia zoo - A pair kept (perhaps male and female ?).

Mexico:

Lar gibbon: Morelia zoo - A single individual is kept here (this could be the crested gibbon that I misidentified , I saw it many years ago so my memory is hazy ).

Siamang : Guadalajara zoo - (A pair seems to be kept here).

Zacango zoo - I remember a single individual being kept here ( I think this same animal may have also once been provisionally kept at Chapultepec for a while).

Chapultepec- Single individual kept for a few years, now no longer kept (see my previous comment for Zacango).

Moloch gibbon : Morelia zoo -An individual of this species was apparently historically kept at this zoo (now deceased).

Crested gibbon: Morelia zoo-A single individual of this species was apparently historically kept at this zoo (I think I may have seen it many years ago , I assume it is now deceased ?).

 

These are the places so far where I have been able to find records of gibbons being kept.

Brazil:

Lar gibbon : Sao Paulo zoo - A female called "Julia" that shared her enclosure with the orangutan (she is now sadly deceased).

Siamang : Goiânia zoo - A pair kept (perhaps male and female ?).

Mexico:

Lar gibbon: Morelia zoo - A single individual is kept here (this could be the crested gibbon that I misidentified , I saw it many years ago so my memory is hazy ).

Siamang : Guadalajara zoo - (A pair seems to be kept here).

Zacango zoo - I remember a single individual being kept here ( I think this same animal may have also once been provisionally kept at Chapultepec for a while).

Chapultepec- Single individual kept for a few years, now no longer kept (see my previous comment for Zacango).

Leon Zoo - Breeding pair kept here.

Moloch gibbon : Morelia zoo -An individual of this species was apparently historically kept at this zoo (now deceased).

Crested gibbon: Morelia zoo-A single individual of this species was apparently historically kept at this zoo (I think I may have seen it many years ago , I assume it is now deceased ?).

Chile:

Lar gibbon: Santiago zoo - A small group appears to be kept here.

Siamang : Buin zoo - A pair seems to be kept here


Argentina:

Lar gibbon : Bubalco zoo - A single individual is kept here (which is also the only gibbon in Argentina).

 

Chapultepec still has the single male siamang that came from Zacango.Last year I saW only One siamang at Guadalajara zoo and 1 siamang at Leon zoo.
Santiago zoo in Chile had a breeding pair of lar gibbons With 2 young about 2 years ago.

 

Hey Carlos , thank you for your comment ! much appreciated !

Strange that this individual is moved between the two zoos so often but I much prefer it being kept at Chapultepec than Zacango if I'm honest with you. I wasn't too impressed with the setup of the enclosure he had at Zacango.

What enclosure is he now being kept in at Chapultepec? the one where he was before which held leopards for sometime? or the ones specifically designed for primates?

I might contact some of my old coworkers and find out what this guys story is, could be interesting.

Shame about these single individuals at Guadalajara and Leon too, I wonder what happened there.

 

Yeah, I would like to know the history of these individuals and which are their original zoos.

 

@Onychorhynchus coronatus , I found out something about the Siamangs at Chapultepec and Zacango. The siamangs from Chapultepec are on breeding loan to Zacango but apparently they are moving them between both facilities constantly. Also, it appears to be that the coordinator of the Siamang program or breeding is Chapultepec.

I also found out that the first Siamang at Buin Zoo was from England and arrived in 2015.

Regarding Zoo Leon siamangs, I found a permit application from 1994, in which a captive-bred pair and a wildcaught female (caught 1971) from USA were going to be exported there.

 

Excellent information ! Thank you for sharing this Jungle man!

I wonder why they are being moved so frequently , perhaps they are having difficulties establishing this breeding pair ?

If so then this problem appears to be one that is longstanding as this has been going on for years. Could you PM me with these links please ? I would be very interested in reading about this.

Regarding the first siamang obtained by the Buin zoo do you know which zoo in the UK originally sent this individual over there ?

Maybe it was these individuals that were eventually exported to Zoo Leon in the 1990s but sad that there is now only one left there and particularly as they are hardly a species that does well on their own.

 

Fascinating thread! Looking forward to any future threads that represent Latin American zoos in this manner. After some searching, Zoológico Guadalajara has a pair of Siamang (most recent source I can find is around February 2020). At around 18:53 minutes the video below shows the siamangs and their enclosure in the zoo's series Desde el Zoológico, which releases very regular updates on the zoo and always has a wealth of information on the zoo's progress. In regards to the siamangs, the zoo house a 13-year-old male and a 25-year-old female. The pair hasn't bred. Sorry to the non-Spanish speakers but it's all in Spanish.



In regards to the Moloch/Javan Gibbons, a 1.1 pair moved to Morelia in March 1975 from Los Angeles. Unfortunately I cannot find any further records on what happened to them.

 

Excellent comment WhistlingKite24 ! Thank you for sharing this!

Very interesting to learn more about the siamangs of Guadalajara zoo. Shame to hear they haven't bred yet though.

This seems to be a common problem in all of the institutions that keep them in the region, are siamangs particularly hard to breed in captivity ? Could it be high stress levels ? or what could be going wrong with this ?

Thank you for the info regarding the moloch gibbon pair kept at Morelia too ! Very interesting indeed !

 

@WhistlingKite24 , super interesting information. Can you help me with something? I found on the 2010 Siamang studbook that the male Siamang at Zoo Leon was born at Auckland Zoo in 14/2/1993. Do you have any information about this individual?

 

Wow ! it came from New Zealand ? I wasn't expecting this at all.

 

Sometimes it is worth contacting the zoos on social media to ask for information as they can be suprisingly receptive and well sometimes they are even just glad that someone is taking a deeper interest in their animals and their work / institution.

 

Yeah, in case nobody knows but I am almost sure somebody would know, it would be worth contacting either Zoo Leon or Auckland Zoo.

 

I think Zoo Leon would be the best to contact first but Aukland Zoo might be equally receptive to answering any questions.

 

Yes, that would be Ipoh (1993) who was bred at Auckland Zoo to parents Iuri (from Adelaide Zoo) and Itam (from Berlin Zoo). He moved to Mexico in 2001 and this article mentions he has since had his own offspring.
Rare twin baby siamangs born at Auckland Zoo | Scoop News

 

Thank you @WhistlingKite24 ! Now we need to investigate about the baby born there.

 

More information found:

From a SSP article, the names given by the zoo to the siamangs are:

wildcaught female : Olive Oyl
1994 captive born female: Chiquis

Ipoh was conserved. There's no clue about offspring and in the document, there were no breeding recomendations or anything. It just said to contact with SSP coordinator.

 

Chiquis is the female Siamang that was mentioned by Zoológico Guadalajara in the video above, so she must have moved from Leon to Guadalajara recently.