The Siamang gibbon family at Fota Wildlife Park, comprising five individuals, have a new state-of-the-art primate house facility, which was officially opened on Monday, September 21st by Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Kevin “Boxer” Moran TD.
The facility includes an expansive modern indoor environment and access to a large island habitat, for whenever the family chooses. Inside, specially designed heated walls, known as ‘cuddle walls’, let the family choose where to spend their time and how warm to be. The indoor accommodation is four times bigger than the previous house and is designed for natural climbing and swinging. The flexible design also allows animal care staff to separate individuals, as needed, for training and health checks.
For visitors, the new facility includes sheltered viewing areas and multiple viewing points that allow them to observe the Siamang gibbons’ acrobatic movements and their distinctive vocal duetting, whatever the weather, enhancing the visitor experience while offering fresh opportunities to learn about the species.
The Siamang gibbon is the largest of the gibbon species and is classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with wild numbers believed to have fallen by around half in the last 40 years as forests in Sumatra, Malaysia and Thailand are cleared and infants are taken for the illegal pet trade. Siamang gibbons have resided at Fota Wildlife Park since it opened in 1983, and Fota is part of an international breeding programme for this species.
Aileen Tennant, Park Director, Fota Wildlife Park said that the new Siamang gibbon habitat ‘provides significantly improved, enriched accommodation for the family, supporting their natural behaviours, while meeting the highest standards of animal husbandry and care’.
The development of the new Siamang gibbon house and habitat was one of a range of capital developments that have been supported by the Office of Public Works (OPW). Those projects focused on long-term resource sustainability for Fota Wildlife Park and included the installation of a modern wastewater treatment plant, a dung stead and composting facility, and energy efficient heating solutions for the primate houses. The delivery of these projects was briefly paused due to the avian influenza-related closure of the Park for 10 weeks in 2025, and all projects have now been successfully delivered.
Recent OPW co-funding has contributed to a number of energy-efficiency initiatives, including the thermal upgrading and retrofitting of both the Giraffe House and food preparation facilities, as well as the installation of 1,112 m2 of photovoltaic panels in 2024.
The new Siamang Gibbon House is now open to the public. Fota Wildlife Park is open daily from 9.30am. See www.fotawildlife.ie for further information.
