An update from Angkor…

It has been some time since our last update about the gibbons that we released into the Angkor Temple Complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Luckily our released gibbons are all doing well, with no interference required from our end, we do hope to see this continue this year. Times have certainly changed very rapidly in 2020, with tourist numbers already seemingly low in the country and at Angkor this high season and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe. Whilst we need this tourism to keep many of our projects going, no doubt, the brief respite is welcomed by the forests and wildlife of Angkor. 

Baray and Saranick, the first pair of gibbons released, continue to raise their family with Ping-peeung and Chung-ruth both doing well. Occasionally Baray can get a bit cheeky and head into the beautiful gardens at the Angkor Zipline, which fall within their released range, to raid the fruits and flowers.

Bayon and Tevy, the second pair released, occasionally have been experiencing some tension at supplementary feeding time with their youngsters A-ping and Gon-dope. Therefore, it was decided to hoist a second feeding platform up at mealtimes to enable the family to split, as they see fit, for feeding, and this seems to have solved the issues for now. We get it, not everyone appreciates sharing their dinner.

Pompoy and Borei, the third pair currently awaiting release, have settled in well to the acclimatisation enclosure. We hope to release them at some point this year, however, they are still quite young, so we will continue to assess them carefully before making the final decision.  

More exciting times lie in wait for our program at Angkor in 2020 with APSARA approving the construction of a 4th pre-release acclimatisation enclosure, which is now almost complete. Hopefully, when things begin to calm down we can commence the process of looking for our next pair of gibbons to be returned to the wild!