Good news, everyone: a tiny, fuzzy bundle of hope has arrived in the UK. Her name is Lima, she's a Javan gibbon, and she's just over two months old. The plan? For her to eventually return to her ancestral home on the Indonesian island of Java.
Because, let's be honest, things aren't great for the Javan gibbon, also known as the owa. These tree-dwelling acrobats are endangered, with a 2017 study estimating a paltry 2,640 to 4,178 left in the wild. Their numbers are shrinking faster than a politician's promise, thanks to habitat destruction and the delightful double-whammy of illegal pet and bushmeat trades.
The UK's Secret Weapon
Enter Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve in Kent, UK. This isn't just any wildlife park; it's practically a secret gibbon training academy. Simon Jeffery, the animal director there (and at Howletts Wild Animal Park), is pretty chuffed about Lima's arrival.
We're a new kind of news feed.
Regular news is designed to drain you. We're a non-profit built to restore you. Every story we publish is scored for impact, progress, and hope.
Start Your News DetoxBoth parks are run by The Aspinall Foundation, which currently cares for 26 Javan gibbons. Let that satisfying number sink in: that's 40-50% of all Javan gibbons in captivity worldwide. They've been playing matchmaker for these primates since the early 1980s, racking up over 50 births in the last two decades alone.
And it's not just about cute babies. Since 2012, they've successfully sent about ten gibbons back to Java. Lima, whose name means "five" in Indonesian, is the latest addition to this rather important, long-running project. Here's hoping she swings back home one day.
