At 7 years old, Holmes — one of Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo’s white-handed gibbons — is swinging into a new chapter of his life.
The long-limbed ape left the teaching zoo Sept. 12 for a zoo accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. AZA-accreditation is a coveted status currently limited to about 250 zoos and aquariums around the world. That means Holmes will receive the highest standard of animal care as he meets an assigned mate to start a family of his own. Holmes’ new zoo has not been made public yet.
Holmes lived at the teaching zoo his entire life, according to Jade Woodling, the conservation and education curator at the zoo. As male gibbons grow older, she said, they become territorial and seek a mate to maintain their status at the top of the family hierarchy…