Chuck Discovers the Gibbons

      I'll be honest. I didn't even know what a gibbon was until we stumbled upon this adorable gibbon family at the Philadelphia Zoo. 

    Chucky was moping around because he was finally realizing he couldn't adopt a daddy gorilla and take him home. We were about to leave the PECO Primate Reserve when Dan hears a bit of whooping and hollering coming from a bunch of young kids who are watching something extraordinary. 

    "Let's go over there, Chuck," he says, "and see what's going on."

    At that very moment, a kid yells out, "They just delivered Big Macs to the gibbons."

    "What?" I ask.

    The kid's mom laughs. "The keeper threw in some big bags. Filled with something. He thinks they're Big Macs."

    That's all Chuck needs to hear. Anything related to food usually gets the Rascal cat's attention. 

    We skedaddle over to the large plate glass window that overlooks an outside area where there is a kind of jungle gym for all the primates who live there. Sure enough, the entire gibbon family of four is outside.

    Mercury is the dad and Phoenice is the mom. Ophelia is the younger daughter who is very active. Polaris is the older brother. The kid is right--they all seem to have a big brown grocery store style bag. 

    

     That kid wasn't kidding. I try not to think about what's in the bag and focus more on the gibbon itself. 

    Is a gibbon a monkey, chimpanzee or closer to a gorilla? How smart are they? Are they dangerous? Can you have them as pets? Are they on the endangered species list? 

    Usually Chucky is asking all these questions. This time I'm the curious one. He already has his face pressed up against the glass--watching, like all the other kids because the two little gibbons can't seem to stand still. Watch this YouTube video and see what we saw:

                               https://youtu.be/_rjULzaTcdg

  In a nutshell:

  gibbons are extremely acrobatic (no kidding)

  live in close knit family units

  don't have tails so they are considered to be small apes

  can recognize themselves in mirrors which show some sense of self awareness 

  have arms that are one and a half times longer than their legs which means they can propel themselves through trees with ease and move with alarming speed

  live in rainforests in the wild

  love to eat fruit not Big Macs

  are known for making loud calls that echo for miles in order to ward off enemies and defend their territory

   do not make good pets but, unfortunately, the population of gibbons is vulnerable because people think they're cute and want them as pets

    I make sure to share all this vital info with Chuck, especially the part about they do not make good pets, not wanting a repeat of--let's adopt a baby gibbon scenario, but amazingly he doesn't bring it up this time.  When the gibbons calm down, when the show is over, we turn around to leave. 

    "I'm proud of you, Chucky." 

    I turn to Dan as we're on our way outside. "Maybe he's finally growing up. No drama. This is good."

    "Or another scam. He's looking for a reward."

    We are, of course, passing Tiger Terrace which sells hamburgers.

    "You don't think--"

    Cats are carnivores. This rascal cat loves chicken, turkey, meatballs and hamburgers. No buns. No catsup or onions. Just meat.

    "Oh, what the heck." 

    We order three. Chucky's other nickname, of course, is the Belly Boy and the shape of that belly, well, we don't want to talk about that.