TORONTO, ON, Monday, October 24, 2022: It’s World Gibbon Day, and your Toronto Zoo is delighted to bring you a “happily ever after” story of love after loss currently playing out in our gibbon habitat!
Their story begins, as every good ‘fairy tail’ does, with a single 50-year-old white-handed gibbon named Holly. A beloved member of your Toronto Zoo by both guests, staff and volunteers, Holly spent most of her life in her home in the Indo-Malaya pavilion with her mate, Lenny. After 40 wonderful years together, Lenny passed away in December 2021, leaving Holly alone in the habitat they shared for four decades.
White-handed gibbons are one of the few monogamous, pair-bonded primates and it was clear Holly was feeling the loss of her mate. As she adjusted to life without her long-time partner, the Wildlife Care staff ensured she received extra attention, training and enrichment. The keepers monitored her closely and she seemed to adjust well enough, but they recognized the importance of ensuring social species do not live alone, and immediately set about exploring potential options to ensure Holly wasn’t alone for long.
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Fortuitously, a similar story was unfolding in a far-away land known as Moncton, New Brunswick. A 32-year-old male named Hoot was also experiencing the loss of a mate, and it didn’t take long for the Wildlife Care staff at Toronto Zoo to set upon a matchmaking quest.
Welcoming an animal from another Zoo to the Toronto Zoo family can be a tense time for the Wildlife Care staff, especially when the Toronto Zoo resident is a fifty-year old, recently widowed primate. It is a gradual process, which begins with a mandatory 30-day quarantine to ensure there is never any transfer of illness from one facility to another.
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When the time for introductions arrived, Hoot and Holly were introduced by way of a “howdy”, meaning they were separated by a barrier but can smell and hear one another. These first stages seemed to be going well, and the keepers felt the time was right for Hoot to begin exploring his new habitat, although Holly was housed separately so as not to overwhelm him in his new space.
Finally, the moment arrived to introduce the two gibbons to one another. To everyone’s delight, it could not have gone better! Hoot and Holly formed an instant connection, and the two are regularly seen hanging around their habitat side by side for most of each day. Holly hugs and grooms her new mate so often Hoot sometimes signals he is ready for a few moments of space, but this never lasts long.
The next time you are visiting your Toronto Zoo, be sure to swing by the Indo-Malayan pavilion to see these two sharing a lunch on their platform, grooming one another, or watch as Holly chases Hoot around for one more hug. We are overjoyed for Hoot and Holly as they live happily ever after together.
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The Toronto Zoo’s mission is to connect people, animals and conservation science to fight extinction and our vision is a world where wildlife and wild spaces thrive.
An iconic tourist attraction and Conservation organization, the Toronto Zoo boasts a number of leading programs for helping wildlife and their natural habitats – from species reintroduction to reproductive research. A world-class educational centre for people of all ages, the Toronto Zoo is open every day including December 25 and attracts approximately 1.2 million guests each year.
Toronto Zoo is accredited by Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The Zoo has also achieved the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) Certificate of Good Animal Practice® and is inspected by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).
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