Paen

Paen, a petite white-handed gibbon came from a zoo in the northwest. She and her two sisters were in zoos most of their lives and were companions the entire time. For whatever reason, these three never moved on to have companions of the opposite sex. Since her last sister passed, Paen was all alone, so the zoo asked to retire her to our sanctuary.

Paen arrived at IPPL on June 18, 2016. She was met at the Atlanta airport by Meg, head of our animal care staff, for her drive to IPPL. Once inside the van, she was offered some food and started eating right away. It appeared that the flight did not dampen this little girl’s spirits at all!

Paen came with a “suitcase” of her favorite toys including a stuffed Asiatic black bear. We don’t know if this is her best friend or baby, but she carries it around, grooms it, dips it in water, sucks on it, and then leaves it to dry. Quite a routine! She also has a bright pink monkey stuffie we bought for her locally.

Paen has an amazing singing voice. Her calls are loud and clear and frequently heard. She is also one of the most affectionate gibbons who has ever lived with us. She loves having her caregivers scratch her back.

We were thrilled to have Pan join our sanctuary – making her gibbon # 38! Since she a young gibbon, we expect to have her around for many years to come. That’s fine with us – and we suspect it will be just fine with Paen too!

Since Paen’s arrival, she had been introduced to two of IPPL’s bachelors, but showed no interest. In March of 2019 we introduced her to Scrappy whose mate, Uma, had died in 2018. After two failed introductions – it was Scrappy who won her heart!