The mystery of how a gibbon who lived alone had a baby has finally been solved

Zookeepers at a Japan zoo might have finally cracked the mystery behind a gibbon who became pregnant despite living alone in her cage. Two years later, the baby gibbon's DNA has been used to identify the father and the zookeepers have also evolved a theory about how the two gibbons mated. A probe into the matter has revealed that while the gibbon lived alone, she did cross paths with another gibbon, although she did not come into direct contact with the gibbon. The mating happened in a very weird way and led to thewhite-handed gibbon becoming pregnant.

Momo is a 12-year-old white-handed gibbon who lives at the Kujukushima Zoo and Botanical Garden in Nagasaki. She shocked zookeepers in February 2021 by giving birth despite not having been in the company of any male gibbon.

A researcher compared the mom and baby’s hair and stool DNA samples against that of four potential fathers. After running the tests, the father was identified as Itō, a 34-year-old agile gibbon, who used to live in an enclosure adjacent to Momo.

The zookeepers told CNN that it looks like the two mated through a small hole measuring nine millimeters (0.3 inch) in diameter in a steel plate between their enclosures. While they were never in the same cage together, they were in close proximity in an exhibition area at the zoo. The area was right in front of Momo's cage. What separated the cage from the exhibition area was a partition with holes.

Zoo superintendent Jun Yamano told Vice News that identifying the father took so long because the gibbon was a protective mother.

“It took us two years to figure it out because we couldn’t get close enough to collect samples—she was very protective of her child,” Yamano said.

Meanwhile, the baby ape now weighs around two kilogrammes (4.4 pounds) and is “growing healthily”, the zoo said.

“It is a precious life born into the world, we will continue to take good care of him and hope that he will live a healthy long life,” said Hideki Hisano, deputy director of the zoo.

Notably, gibbons are one of the smallest apes in the world and even have an elaborate language they use to communicate with each other.

Agile gibbons are few in numbers and have been listed as an endangered species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature owing to deforestation, mining and road construction. Several dozen of gibbon species are native to parts of Asia and are found in north-eastern India, China and Borneo archipelago.

(With inputs from agencies)

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