Bali Tourism News

A baby Javan silvery gibbon, known locally as w akwak , was born at the Bali Zoo in Gianyar district, an official said on Thursday.

“The gibbon was born on Wednesday to a male gibbon named Koko and a female named Minul,” said Putu Setiawan, the Bali Zoo’s marketing manager. “It is their third offspring.”

The silvery gibbon has been on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s list of critically endangered animals since 2000.

Research conducted by the Indonesian Institute for Biodiversity Sciences in 2005 found that Ujung Kulon National Park had a population of 560 Javan silvery gibbons, while Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park had 447 and Gunung Halimun Salak National Park had 1,221. All three parks are located on Java Island.

Dewa Atmadja, the Bali Zoo’s veterinarian-on-location, said that because Javan silvery gibbons were on the brink of extinction, they were classified in the first appendix of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which lists the world’s most endangered species.

Setiawan said that the parent silvery gibbons were transferred to the zoo by the Bali Nature Conservation Agency after they were confiscated from their former owner.

He said their first offspring was stillborn and the second was now two years old.

The baby silvery gibbon now occupies a cage measuring 3 meters by 5 meters with its mother, Setiawan said.

“[The mother is] less agile now, probably because she is nursing,” he said.

Atmadja said that the birth was almost completely unassisted. The baby will start growing as soon as it has adapted to its environment, she added.

Each silvery gibbon pregnancy usually results in a single offspring. The gibbon’s gestation period lasts seven months, and a baby is usually nurtured by its mother for two years.

Atmadja said that the gibbons, which are endemic to Indonesia, have a reported lifespan of up to 45 years.

“This primate can only be found in Indonesia, especially in tropical rain forests in the western part of Java,” he said.

The gibbons are characterized as frugivorous, or fruit eating. With their long arms, they can leap from tree to tree to gather food. Illegal hunting and land clearing pose the biggest threats to the animal’s survival, Atmadja said.

Source: www.thejakartaglobe.com/news