Arun Rangsi Celebrates his 20th Birthday!

Arun Rangsi soon after arriving at IPPL	Arun Rangsi 1999

Arun Rangsi was the first veteran research gibbon to reach IPPL. In 1999 he will celebrate his 20th birthday. No doubt he will get birthday cards from those lovely IPPL members who never miss this special day and whose concern for his well-being we have appreciated so much over the years.

Arun Rangsi was born on 9 August 1979 at the Comparative Oncology Laboratory at the University of California at Davis, USA. He was rejected by his mother at birth and for many months was kept with a swinging wire surrogate (artificial) mother. His lab number HL-98 was tattooed in blue on his abdomen.

In 1981 the laboratory lost the funding for its experiments which involved injecting gibbons with a cancer-causing virus. Most gibbons went to zoos, animal dealers, or other research facilities. However HL-98 was not wanted by anyone in these circles because, according to the laboratory director, he was "mentally retarded" and "metabolically abnormal."

IPPL had a tip-off that the little gibbon might be killed. So we offered funds for his upkeep. A Thai member placed him under the protection of the Lord Buddha and provided him with the lovely Thai name Arun Rangsi, which means "The Rising Sun of Dawn."

The laboratory director suggested that instead of us sending him the money, it should be spent on the little gibbon's one-way airline ticket to IPPL! We eagerly took him up on the offer.

The Animal Protection Institute, based in the city of Sacramento which is close to Davis, kindly collected the little gibbon and took him to San Francisco Airport. Arun Rangsi reached IPPL on 9 August 1981, his second birthday.

At that time, US air controllers were on strike. Rather than risk Arun Rangsi being stranded in Atlanta, my friend Kit and I drove to Atlanta through thunderstorms to get him.

We reached the cargo area as the plane was landing. We asked the cargo agent to phone the pilot to make sure the gibbon was on board. We were told that there was no gibbon on board, but that there was a chimpanzee! The "chimpanzee" turned out to be our gibbon!

Arun Rangsi was extremely small, weighing around four pounds - half what we should have weighed. He banged his head constantly. His medical records showed that he had survived repeated bouts of dysentery and pneumonia. Further, our little gibbon was terrified of people.

What was most striking about Arun Rangsi were his huge lustrous eyes and the exquisite white ring around his face and the white "mittens" and "booties" on his brown coat.

Everyone at IPPL worked very hard to befriend Arun Rangsi. Gradually he stopped his head-banging and learned that we were his friends.

Later he was joined by two other lab gibbons, Helen and Peppy, who came to us from the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP), New York, and finally by a lovely female gibbon sent to IPPL in 1982 by LEMSIP. We called this long slender gibbon Shanti.

Today, eighteen years later, Arun Rangsi and Shanti live happily together - as do Helen and Peppy.

Each year IPPL seeks help from our US members for the support of our gibbons. You may be hearing from us soon. Please do help if possible.

IPPL cares for some of the oldest gibbons in captivity (several have passed 40) so we need your help to provide them with wonderful food, the best veterinary care, spacious indoor-outdoor enclosures and dedicated caregivers.