30 September 2016
By Bryan T. Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
The latest arrival at Fota Wildlife Park, a tiny baby Agile Gibbon, was today introduced to the public. Proud mother, Chloe gave birth to her baby after a gestation period of seven months. Agile Gibbons live in monogamous pairs and the new baby’s mom Chloe and dad Conor have two older offspring. Fota Wildlife Park are inviting members of the public to name the latest arrival, full details on how to enter are on the website, visit www.fotawildlife.ie.
Teresa Power, Lead Warden of the Primate Section today said “We are delighted with the new arrival and happy to report that mother and baby are thriving, our baby agile monkey can now be seen by visitors to the wildlife park in the new Asian Sanctuary which is also home to our pride of Asiatic Lions, Indian Rhinos and Sumatran Tigers as well as many other endangered species such as the Red Panda.”
One of the smaller apes of its kind, the Agile Gibbon varies in colour between black and reddish-brown. As its name suggests, the Agile Gibbon is one of the fastest and acrobatic climbers in the forest.
Listed as endangered, the Gibbon’s numbers continue to decrease because of the impact of habitat destruction (which has been reduced by 50% over the past 45 years) and the actions of hunters, who illegally capture the species for the pet market.
Agile Gibbons have been at Fota Wildlife Park since the 1990s and Fota is one of the few wildlife parks worldwide to successfully breed this particular species in captivity. Fota Wildlife Park cares for several different animal species in danger of extinction. Through long-established breeding programmes which are run cooperatively with other institutions around the world, the Park is helping restore populations of some species while protecting the very survival of others.
Open daily, Fota Wildlife Park invites the public to visit the new arrival and remember to log onto the website www.fotawildlife.ie for details on how to name the youngster.
