WHITE-CHEEKED GIBBON

Scientific Name: Hylobates leucogenys

Range & Habitat: The high canopy of tropical rain forests in Southeastern Asia

Size: Head and body length is 18-25 inches and about 12 ½ pounds. Extremely long arms and legs

Life Span: 25 years or more

Gestation: Approximately 7 months. Single births; year-round breeding

Wild Diet: Fruits, leaves, insects, eggs and nestlings, plant shoots

Zoo Diet: Assorted fruits and vegetables, leaf-eater biscuits

Habits: Gibbons travel in small family units. At night they sleep in the center of their territory, huddled together on a branch. Vocal sounds establish the limits of the territory, warn others to stay out, and keep the family unit located. Their tremendous voices can be heard up to a mile away.

Gibbons are arboreal, although they come to the ground often, walking upright. Gibbons are the only apes that habitually walk upright. They are extremely fast and agile in trees, using a hand-over-hand movement (brachiation) made possible by ball and socket wrists and traveling up to 35 miles per hour.

The infants develop slowly, clinging to the mother for the first six months, and then gradually learning to walk and care for themselves. They are born a beige color and then develop their black and white color at 1½ years old. They mature at six to seven years old; the female will turn a beige color again at sexual maturity.