Gibbons returning to Assiniboine Park Zoo this fall

WINNIPEG — White-handed gibbons are swinging back to the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

The Zoo said a male and female gibbon will be returning later this year, moving into the current pavilion of the Asiatic lions enclosure, who were shipped this past winter to zoological facilities in England for breeding. The enclosure will be renovated and transformed into a gibbon exhibit.

READ MORE: Two rare Asiatic lions at Winnipeg zoo moving to England to breed

“Assiniboine Park Zoo was home to gibbons for many years and they were always a favourite with our visitors,” said Gary Lunsford, Head, Zoological Operations at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

“We’re pleased to have this opportunity to create and maintain a spacious and naturalistic home for this species, and we are very happy to be welcoming them back to our zoo family.”

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Once the renovations to the indoor portion of the exhibit are complete in late fall, the primates will move in and live inside throughout the winter.

At that time the outdoor portion of the exhibit will be reconstructed, and should open in the spring of 2017. Once complete, the exhibit will be home to a young pair of gibbons.

An endangered species and part of the Species Survival Plan (SSP) program, white-handed gibbons are small, arboreal apes found mainly in tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia.