Tong

Tong belongs to a different species from all the other IPPL gibbons. She is a golden-cheeked gibbon from Vietnam and has been with IPPL since 1974. She was formerly the pet of an embassy employee in Bangkok who asked IPPL to take care of her when she was transferred to Burma. Tong is extremely pretty and her song is quite different from that of the other gibbons, it ends with a lovely bubbling trill. Tong is a very friendly gibbon. When our first animal caregiver Kathy joined us in 1989, Tong took a great liking to her and would often groom Kathy's hair just as if Kathy was a fellow-gibbon. Kathy considered this a great honor! Tong lived happily with a lovely gibbon named Brownie who sadly passed on in early 2008 at 38 years of age. Gibbons' normal life-spans average 20, according to the Philadelphia Zoo's web site. We hope to have our friendly Tong with us for many more years.