Meet The Silveries

I decided it was about time you were all formally introduced to the lovely ladies and gentle-apes who provide the fodder for my poor excuse for humour and will hopefully provide me with amazing results to publish.

For no rational reason, first off the blocks, allow me to introduce The Silveries:

The Silveries are the only family of Silvery Gibbons in my study (hence my unique and creative nickname for them) or as they're more formally known Hylobates moloch. Silvery Gibbons are also known as the Javan Gibbon because, surprise, surprise they're found in Java, Indonesia. They are critically endangered, which means there's a 50% chance they will be extinct in the next decade (by comparison Pandas are endangered, but not critically). This is predominantly due to the extensive deforestation of Java. Partly a result of the massively increasing human population but also due to extensive illegal logging which produces furniture and other homewares.

Silvery gibbons live in nuclear families, so essentially they have a breeding male and female and any offspring under eight years of age. Infants are dependent on their mothers until two years of age but remain with the family until they disperse as mature adults. Because of these family structures the infant mother relationship is very important. A poor attachment in infancy can lead to lifelong social problems and affect the individual's survivability.

The Silveries live on the island at Perth Zoo, their nearest neighbours are the Ring-Tailed Lemurs (who can produce an incredible cacophany) and the various waterfowl in the lake (including my nemesis the Pelicans).

I am Lemur, hear me scream!shoutyabberyell!cackle.

Unfortunately being on the island means the gibbons are out of the range of good photos on my camera. Any decent photos in this post are taken by Perth Zoo, any that look like they were taken by a blind person with no arms were taken by me. Never fear, I will be saving up for a new lens for my camera, so when I get the money together, prepare to be amazed by incredible photos (so in a decade or two).

But, without further ado allow me to introduce the five Silvery Gibbons representing their species in my study.

Jury

Damn kids.

Jury is the adult male of the group. He is in his mid-twenties and unfortunately has diabetes. He now has to have daily insulin shots but he's great with his training and comes up straightaway to get his shot in the morning. The poor fella also has to contend with a 7 year old, a 4 year old and a 1 year old hooning about on the island at all hours of the day. 

He's pretty relaxed and acts much older than his age. He has taken to sitting on the ground when the youngin's get too over-exuberant. Unfortunately for him there are plans to breed another infant soon, so he's going to have to keep on with the father schtick for a bit longer. However, he has a pretty solid partner in Hecla.

Hecla

The best mother of the bunch.

Hecla's our golden girl. Of the gibbons at Perth Zoo she has the best track record as a mum and a partner. She's successfully rearing her fourth infant and her intervals between pregnancies are getting shorter. She is also in her mid-twenties, and has been with partner Jury for a long time.

How she maintains her eternal patience I'll never know. Unlike Jury who often goes and hides from the kids in the corner, she always pays attention to them. Even if they're jumping at her for attention. Most of the time she will subdue them with a hug or a half-hearted effort at play. 

Nakula

Just playing with my log....

Poor Nakula. He's seven years old and a mature adult, at this age in the wild he would have dispersed from the group to go find his own mate. Unfortunately, being in a zoo, he can't just hop out and start looking for women in South Perth. There were plans in place to take him to Java and release him into a sanctuary but that has now fallen through, so the whole process has to start again. It is a very, very long process.

In the meantime Nakula is slowly getting pushed out of the group. He still spends a bit of time playing with his sisters, but he spends the majority of the time on his own. He entertains himself by rolling a log around or batting at the ladders and balls. He has a fan in his keeper who gives him an extra banana every morning. There is no word on how Nakula feels whether this banana is a worthy trade.

Although Nakula has been spotted peeing on a duck from the branches of a tree, so I think he's doing okay.

Cahaya

Oh hey, I didn't see you there.

And, the ratbag. At four years old Cahaya is going through the gibbon terrible twos. And boy can't everyone tell. She swings up behind the others and hits them on the head, then tears away. She tries to grab at the keepers/me as we pass. She is the greediest little ape I've ever seen and will run around trying to get as much fruit as possible into her mouth in one hit. She is a favourite of her sister Sunda though who always loves to play.

Today she discovered that the electric fence had been turned off and was grabbing and poking it, later she taught Sunda. She's going to get a nasty shock if she isn't paying attention when they turn it on.

Despite her terrible behaviour she is sharp as a tack. She follows the routine of the keepers and me to the minute. Today I got in trouble for taking an early toilet break. She was unimpressed at my lack of commitment.

Her favourite game is to try and catch the ducks that waddle onto the island. Those poor ducks. I don't know why they ever go near the gibbons.

Sunda

It's a grape, not her tongue...

And last, but by no means least, is little Sunda. She is just over a year old now and is really getting into the groove of being a gibbon. She's pretty brave, she ventures unhindered from mum although her mum is her favourite playmate. She and Cahaya go tearing through the island at times, up and down the trees, jumping and falling and swinging and climbing. Its positively dizzying. She had a bit of a shock today when she slipped and fell but she didn't fall very far and a hug from mum cleared it up in no time. 

A favourite among the keepers, Sunda is definitely the charmer. Although I suspect she is beginning to get spoilt. She demandingly trilled at the keeper until he feed her this morning. Cahaya will soon put her back in her place. If she turns her nose up at food for too long then its Cahaya's. 

So that's the Silveries. I hope you can appreciate their quirks and personalities, they're a great bunch of individuals. 

Before I go I'd like to make one special mention:

One of the African Painted Dogs at the Zoo had to be euthanised yesterday. They are going through breeding season and therefore are readjusting all their hierarchies, sadly violence and aggression is very common and deaths can result. Unfortunately now two of the dogs have been euthanased. Kibuiri and Half-Tail. Its a sad time for all the keepers and researchers and I want to offer my condolences. They were great dogs. I don't have an image of either of them but this is an old photo of one of the pups, once upon a time both Kiburi and Half-Tail would have looked like this.

xxxx

Such is the life when you are working with animals.