CREATE A MORE SUITABLE HABITAT FOR HOUSING GIBBONS

Support the Gibbon Conservation Center in creating a more naturalistic habitat for housing a group of Javan gibbons, Ivan, Chloe and Goliath.

WHO WE ARE

The Gibbon Conservation Center (GCC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of gibbons by promoting public education, supporting habitat preservation, furthering study and advancing care practices.

The GCC was founded in 1976 by Alan Richard Mootnick and houses the rarest group of apes in the Western Hemisphere. We currently house 5 species.  All are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species list with one species listed as critcally endangered. 

We educate the public about gibbons, the threats to their survival, and the actions the public can take to protect them. Each year, the GCC provides educational tours to up to 3,000 veterinary students, anthropology students, graduate students, school children, scout troops and animal lovers of all ages. We also encourage non-invasive behavioral studies to increase knowledge and understanding of gibbons, both captive and wild.  We support ongoing field conservation projects in their countries of origin.

The GCC has successfully reproduced seven gibbon species and participates in Species Survival Plans. In the last two years, seven gibbons were born at the GCC, including Nate, a Northern White-Cheeked gibbon that is critically endangered in the wild. This is a significant accomplishment because gibbons are sensitive to environmental stress and will not breed unless they are comfortable. We have developed a number of ways to maximize the comfort of the gibbons in our care.

We design enclosures that maximize space and are tailored to a gibbon's unique mode of locomotion.

We feed the gibbons a nutritional diet including a wide range of fruits, leafy greens and vegetables.  In addition, we feed them ten times a day in order to imitate how they would eat in the wild; to encourage social behaviors such as food sharing and to keep them active throughout the day.

We use our knowledge and experience to improve the lives of captive gibbons by assisting and advising zoos, rescue centers and veterinary universities in better captive management. We offer consultation, caregiver training and enclosure design and construction services free of charge to zoos, government agencies and gibbon rescue centers throughout the world.

Alan Mootnick, the GCC founder, passed away in November 2011. Today the GCC is run by a handful of dedicated people who follow Alan’s standards on gibbon care, continuing his legacy and work.

You can help us to accomplish this goal!

Learn more about us by going to our website, Facebook or Tumblr

WHAT IS A GIBBON

Gibbons (Hylobatidae) are small arboreal apes that are found in tropical and sub-tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia, South China, Bangladesh, and Northeast India. True brachiator animals that swing from tree to tree, these apes are often described as acrobats of the forest. In the wild, gibbons live in nuclear family groups consisting of a mated pair and their dependent offspring. The family unit occupies a territory, and they defend its boundaries by vigorous vocal and visual displays. The vocalizations consist of elaborate songs mostly performed as a coordinated duet between the mated pair.

Gibbons are amongst the rarest primates in the wild and are the most diverse group of any apes, with 17 existing species divided into 4 genera. Although all apes are threatened, some of the gibbon species are on the brink of extinction. The various reasons for the decline in numbers in the wild include deforestation, escalating change in the climate worldwide, poaching for the pet trade and food, use for medicinal purposes in Vietnam and China, and for symbolic ceremonies.

Gibbons and humans share a number of similar behaviors such as stable pair bond, sex for pleasure, paternal care, upright posture, bipedal walking and duetting, but gibbons so far have rarely been studied, and their plight receives virtually no media coverage.

ABOUT JAVAN GIBBONS

Javan gibbons are found on the island of Java, Indonesia where they have already lost 98% of their original habitat and the pressure on the remaining forest is extreme. Less than 3,000 Javan gibbons now exist in small isolated populations. Institutions housing captive gibbons are playing a vital role in the survival of the species. There are 10 zoological institutions participating in the Javan gibbon global captive breeding program. These institutions participate also in 'on ground' conservation projects and the reintroduction of captive-bred animals to the wild has already taken place. At the GCC, we house 12 Javan gibbons.

WHAT WE NEED AND WHY

We need your help! The GCC is located near the city of Santa Clarita in Saugus, Southern California, where the weather presents some difficulties to the gibbons. The summers are very hot and dry, and the winters can be very cold. Climate change could lead to even more extreme weather. Our current location was always meant to be temporary.  While we seek an opportunity to move the GCC to a more temperate climate, nearer the ocean, we are looking to create an environmentally conscious alternative way to make our current location better suited to housing gibbons.

Currently we do a number of things to improve conditions for the gibbons in both the winter and summer months. During the summer we cover most of the enclosures with tarps that provide shade but still allow air movement, and we use reflective paint on the roofs. We attach misters and keep the ground wet to cool the enclosures and increase the humidity. Unfortunately the constant dripping water from the misters that are currently installed corrodes the metal enclosures over time.

During the winter, nighttime temperatures often drop below freezing. The GCC, at an elevation of around 1,400 feet, sits at the bottom of a canyon where cold air sinks at night. All of our enclosures are outdoors, with no indoor building connected to them. The enclosures are covered with thick vinyl tarps that protect against the elements. The gibbons spend their nights in Dogloos (an igloo-shaped dog house, with a door attached) that traps their body heat and provides shelter.

Although these efforts help, we believe that we can improve conditions even further by installing high-pressure misters on the enclosures, which will maintain the benefits of misters without causing the rusting of enclosures during summer months. High-pressure misters produce very fine mist, which evaporates quickly, making them more effective at cooling and increasing humidity. In addition we would like to install a small, well-insulated, heated building to their enclosures.

The money we raise here would go towards building a prototype of a heating/ cooling system for a group of Javan gibbons (Ivan, Chloe and Goliath). 

In line with our ideals and in order to reduce our carbon footprint and save money in the long term, we would like to use solar power to run the high-pressure misters and use solar water heaters to heat the indoor.

If this prototype is successful, we will share our findings with other zoological organizations and sanctuaries as a method of creating a more naturalistic habitat for tropical animals in an environmental friendly way. If we raise more then what we hope for, we could provide misters for other gibbons at the GCC. Eventually we want to install a heating and a cooling system for all of our enclosures. This summer is expected to be very hot and we had very little rain this winter. We have already had temperatures reaching the hundreds in both May and June!

Ivan at age 40 is our oldest gibbon. He is the great-great grandfather of Goliath. Chloe is the mother of the first Javan gibbon ever born in the U.S. and her most recent offspring is Goliath, the youngest gibbon at the Center with quite the interesting story. To read more about Goliath and his unique story see our Facebook album “Goliath Growing Up”.

WHAT YOU GET

Any donation automatically gets a subscription to our on-line newsletter and our eternal gratitude. Other amounts include wonderful Gibbon Center products including discounts on admissions and private tours. You can see some of the items in our gallery section as well as some photographs of the gibbons housed at the GCC.

THE IMPACT

Misting system:

High-pressure misters would provide the gibbons with a more relaxing, cool and humid environment, similar to their native rain forest.  It would also decrease the risk of heat-related illnesses and help moisturize skin. In addition to this, the high-pressure system would reduce rusting of enclosures.

Ivan, our oldest Javan gibbon will greatly benefit from a cooler environment. At age 40 he has is at the greatest risk for developing heat-related illnesses.

Heating system:

With weather becoming more and more extreme, we have experienced winter nights where temperatures dropped below freezing. Heated sleeping areas for the gibbons would make their lives more comfortable and safer.  Our winter temperatures are much colder than their native rainforest. Heat would reduce skin problems common in the winter such as dry cracked fingers and toes.

Goliath, our youngest Javan gibbon, could spend the winter nights in a heated building with his mother, Chloe and his great-great grantfather, Ivan.

Solar power:

In order to reduce our carbon footprint and to save money in the long term, we would like to use solar power to run the high-pressure misting system and solar water heater to heat the sleeping boxes or the small building. Using sustainable methods to accomplish these goals would also serve as an example to the public and to the zoological community.

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP

If you like what we are doing and would like to support us you can do so by spreading the word! Share this campaign on Facebook and/or Twitter and get your friends involved. Every dollar counts and the more people know about gibbons the better!

You can visit our website for volunteer opportunities and other ways to get involved with gibbon conservation.

You can donate your time, your skills and talents! Donate unused tools! Donate through your workplace! Donate when you buy groceries!

You can protect gibbons and their rainforest habitat by using less paper, buying coffee, tea, cacao that was produced sustainably and by avoiding product containing palm oil. Palm oil plantations are one of the leading causes of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia.