Farewell Feisty Mia

Mia was born at Zoo in Tucson, Arizona in 1991. She was then moved to a California zoo before ending up at a zoo in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2010. Paired with a gentle gibbon, the two were very compatible and bonded nicely. They even produced several offspring together, but Mia turned out not to have any mothering skills and her offspring had to be hand-raised.

When her mate died unexpectedly of heart disease in June of 2014, the zoo thought that after living in zoos for 25 years, perhaps it was time for Mia to go into retirement. They knew about IPPL and that we were looking for additional females to match with one of our four unpaired males. Knowing that IPPL did not breed gibbons, they thought IPPL would make a perfect forever home for Mia.

She arrived at IPPL in March 2015 and quickly settled in. She turned out to be a very acrobatic gibbon. Mia made good use of her large outdoor enclosure by swinging and climbing constantly. She earned the name Because she was so active, she was one of our most difficult gibbons to photograph because she didn’t like to stay still for long!

Mia remained single until 2020 when she was introduced to Peppy whose mate Helen had died. While they initially seemed well suited, over time, it became apparent that Mia’s younger, more active lifestyle became visibly uncomfortable for Peppy. They were separated and both adjusted to happy single lives. But that changed for Mia when she had recently been paired with Val. While they were only together for a short time, the two of them were a great couple. They were often observed hugging and grooming each other more than most of our established couples.

On January 9, we lost Mia to a struggle with pancreatitis. For 10 years Mia was a delightful addition to our gibbon family and we will remember her fondly for many years to come.