A Gibbon Named Goliath

A couple of years ago, I took a group of schoolchildren on a field trip to the Gibbon Conservation Center in Saugus (California). We got a personalized tour by the founder, Alan Mootnick, a wonderful man who had been fascinated by gibbons ever since he was a young child and who still and quite obviously felt a special kinship with them as a species ~ and, at the center, with them as individuals. Alan died a couple of weeks after our visit, but his staff continues his work. Today, I got a newsletter from them with a wonderful story about one of their charges:

   If you've been following Goliath's story, this young male was born to Chloe (a Javan gibbon) about 15 months ago.  Chloe was unable to provide nutritious milk, so Goliath was raised by the staff until he was strong enough to return to his family.  Even when hand-fed, he was taken outside to bond with his mother on every sunny day, so they were very familiar with each other as Goliath was growing.

   Chloe (Goliath’s mom) shares an enclosure with Ivan, our oldest gibbon (he's 40!). Ivan is Goliath's great-great grandfather! When Goliath visited, Ivan was fascinated … especially when Goliath was still an infant and wasn't very mobile. Once Goliath found his gibbon legs and began to move around, Ivan was pretty tolerant, but
he clearly didn't enjoy having little Goliath jump onto his head when he was napping.
   When Goliath was finally old enough to live with Chloe full time, we were a bit concerned that Ivan would continue to be grumpy and perhaps play too roughly with Goliath, preferring uninterrupted naps. Ivan was moved to the shift room in the enclosure so they could get to know each other without coming into full contact.  (The first night Goliath spent with Chloe, the staff slept next to the enclosure to keep watch!)
   Slowly, Ivan and Goliath were reintroduced as Goliath gained strength and confidence. It took a little time, but as you can see, Goliath and Ivan have established a lovely playful relationship.

  
 Today, Chloe keeps a close eye on both of them to ensure the roughhousing doesn't get too extreme, but Grandpa Ivan is a great wrestler and very fun for Goliath as a trampoline, climbing toy and soft napping mattress.

The center's website (http://www.gibboncenter.org/) is full of interesting information, including an audio clip of the gibbons vocalizing. Alan loved that sound, and when we were there, he had us all sit in the middle of the area and wait, because every few minutes, a gibbon would get going and then more and more would join in until we were completely surrounded by hoots, warbles, and whistles.