Erin

ERIN 2

FACTS ABOUT ME

Born: February 28, 1985

Name: Erin

Sex: female

Companion: Ziggy

Favorite Food: Bananas and sweet potatoes

Favorite Activity: Grooming her mate, Ziggy

MY STORY

Originally from the Hattiesburg Zoo in Mississippi, Erin was sent to a sanctuary in Texas when aggression broke out in her zoo family group and she had to have her right foot and lower leg amputated. In Texas she was paired with her current mate Ziggy, another ex-zoo gibbon, and they had their daughter, Cathy. Unfortunately, the Texas sanctuary fell on hard times so the family came to IPPL in March 2007. In 2012 we began to see some tension between Erin and Cathy, which is normal when a child reaches adolescence, so Cathy was separated from her parents and moved to one of the other gibbon houses on the property.

Gibbons are naturally arboreal and use a type of arm-over-arm swinging called brachiating to get around, so the loss of her foot has not hampered her much. Erin will still use her injured leg for balance and will often prop her leg up on the bars of her enclosure. While very sweet, Erin is also shy and does not usually approach people unless they have a tasty treat in hand. She would much rather spend her time grooming and being groomed by her very attentive mate Ziggy.