IPPL's Gibbon Sanctuary
IPPL works round the world but also maintains a sanctuary at our Headquarters in Summerville, South Carolina, where dozens of gibbons currently reside. Gibbons are the smallest members of the ape family. They are the only monogamous apes.
In nature each gibbon family has its own territory and gibbon strangers are not welcome. Young gibbons grow up with their parents. The youngsters get evicted from their families when they are between 5-8 years old and move on to form a new pair with another “evicted” gibbon. Thus has gibbon life continued throughout the millennia.
Adult gibbons weigh from 12-25 pounds. All but one of the IPPL gibbons belong to the lar or white-handed gibbon species. The animals can be either light-colored (ranging from blonde to beige to honey-gold) or black. All have white face rings and white hands and feet.
Gibbons have very long arms and move around by arm-swinging (“brachiation”). They are famous for their acrobatics and spectacular leaps. Most gibbon species sing beautiful songs, including all the IPPL gibbons. Our females sing the “great call” while the males duet in the background. It’s a real thrill when all the IPPL gibbons have a “sing-along.”
Many of our gibbons come from research, pet, or zoo backgrounds. Sometimes zoos close down or substandard facilities get into trouble with authorities. Sadly, none of these gibbons can be released into the shrinking wild.
But our animal caregivers take wonderful care of them and they live on a varied diet of the best fruit and vegetables we can obtain, locally grown when possible. They live in large enriched outdoor enclosures with cozy-temperature-controlled night quarters. They are pair-housed whenever possible.
We would like to give you a virtual tour of our Sanctuary. Below you will find images of the gibbons and other sanctuary animals. Just click on the image to bring up a larger image as well as their history.
Please make sure you also view our Multimedia section for video and audio .
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