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Bali Zoo Has Successfully Released An Endangered Silvery Gibbon Into The Wild Bali Zoo is home to numerous Indonesian and non-native fauna, one of its main aspirations is a breeding program that releases endangered species to go back to its habitat in the wilderness.

Bali Zoo is an ex-situ conservation institutions that cultivate a role in protecting the continuity of Indonesia’s fauna, primarily in its ability to breed rare animals outside of their original habitats.

One such case is that of the Silvery Gibbons (Hylobates moloch) that are endemic to West Java.

Estimates indicate that less than 2,500 mature individuals remain in the wild.

The succesful breeding program extended to a decision of putting one of the Gibbon named Boris, a 9 year old male Gibbon into the wild. Boris was translocated from Bali Zoo to Great Association of Natural Resources Conservation West Java (BBKSDA Jawa Barat), for then he was taken care in Java Primate Rehabilitation Center -The Aspinall Foundation, an NGO that actively conserves Javan Gibbon and other primates. Bali Zoo named this project as “Silvery Gibbon into the Wild”, which was also part of Bali Zoo’s conservation project.

Boris was sent out to Ciwidey, West Java on August 9, 2018 where The Aspinall Foundation is based. The Aspinall Foundation is known as a rescue centre, rehabilitation, pre-release habituation and quarantine. At the foundation, a successful breeding program to be reintroduced to his natural habitat and learn to survive in the wild. To not let alone the breeding program, a female silvery gibbon named Inge joined Boris at the foundation on October 9, 2018.
They were arranged to mate on January 4, 2019 and both seemed to be interested in each other.

On another note, Inge was a succesful result of a law enforcement led by BBKSDA Jawa Barat together with Cikananga Wildlife Center (PPS Cikananga).

Less than a year at The Aspinall Foundation, Boris successfully passed all trainings and
undergone a medical check-up. Together with Inge, they were ocially released on July 25, 2019
in Situ Patengan Nature Reserve in West Java. Both of them looked extremely excited to go back
to their nature. “Bali Zoo hopes that the success of this project will increase the population of the
Silvery Gibbons in West Java. Conserve is always be one of the three mottos of Bali Zoo, and with this
project, Bali Zoo believes that this will be an encouragement to conserve more species, preserve the
wild ecosystem, raise public’s awareness about endangered animals, and decrease the level of
hunting and poaching,”said Lesmana Putra, Bali Zoo’s General Manager.

The Silvery Gibbon into the Wild was not the rst conservation project that Bali Zoo has done.
The rst was in May 2016 when Bali Zoo released 50 Oliver Ridley sea turtle babies into the sea.
The project continued when Bali Zoo released nine Javan porcupines to Pura Batu in Silakarang,
Tabanan, and ve Javan deer to West Bali National Park.