A gibbon kept alone in a cage in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan suddenly became pregnant and gave birth to a baby. (Picture / recap from 日テレNEWS, the same below)
A strange incident occurred at Kujukushima Zoological and Botanical Garden in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. A white-handed gibbon, which had been caged alone for about 5 years, suddenly became pregnant and gave birth. Not only did it not know who the biological father of the baby gibbon was, but also how the mother ape got pregnant. It was at a loss, but after a lapse of 2 years, the zoo finally solved the mystery through DNA testing.
According to “Yomiuri Shimbun” and other Japanese media reports, the incident occurred in 2021. The 10-year-old who lived alone for 5 years was located in the “Kujukushima Zoological and Botanical Garden (Kujukushima Zoological and Botanical Garden Sen きらら)” in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The white gibbon Momo (モモ) gave birth to a baby gibbon in the garden on February 10 of that year. Since Momo’s body did not change significantly during pregnancy, the breeder did not find it pregnant.
According to Chikako Iwaoka, the director of the park at the time, since MOMO had been kept alone in the cage and had no chance of contact with male monkeys at all, it was surprising that it gave birth suddenly. Since the white gibbon is listed as an endangered species on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in order to avoid contact with males of other species, Momo lived alone in a cage for 5 or 6 years, although raised on both sides. There are other gibbons and siamangs, but the cages are separated by barbed wire and wooden boards.
In order to unravel the mystery, the zoo entrusted Kyoto University to conduct a DNA test on MOMO’s baby after it turned one and a half years old last August with the body hair and feces of four male apes who may be the “biological father”. The test results came out in December. It turned out that the father of the baby gibbon was Ito (transliteration, イトウ), a black-handed gibbon who used the exhibition site and dormitory in turn with MOMO.
After understanding, there is a perforated board with a thickness of about 0.5 cm between the exhibition site and the bedroom, and the hole on the board is about 0.9 cm. The park speculates that Momo and Ito came into contact through this hole, otherwise there is no other possible reason for the contact. At present, the park has replaced the partitions in the exhibition hall with iron plates without any gaps, so as to avoid any unplanned births.