White-handed Gibbon Naming

Imagine coming to the zoo and visiting an animal YOU named.

This dream can become a reality with the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo. On August 24th of last year, the first blonde, white-handed baby gibbon was born at the zoo, to parents Cajun and Eddie. Over the past year, visitors, zookeepers and staff have watched him grow and his personality flourish.

As we celebrate his first birthday, we need your help giving him a name! The SF Teaching Zoo will be holding an online auction for naming rights. The winner will also receive a gift package, including 4 tickets to the zoo, a gibbon painting and an item from the gift shop.

All funds raised will directly support providing high quality care to our animals, improvements to primate enclosures, and education and conservation efforts to ensure a future for wildlife. It costs around $2,000 to feed our gibbon family for the year, $2,500 to support their medical care by our vets at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, and $1,500 for habitat maintenance and enrichment.

As the baby gibbon learns to become more autonomous, he is spending more time wrestling with his brothers, Gibson and Holmes, and learning how to brachiate through the gibbon forest. His favorite foods are bananas, grapes and melon. Zookeepers describe him as very curious about his family members and surroundings, and independent, while still always keeping mom in sight.

If you’d like to see his personality firsthand before placing a bid you may visit the zoo daily, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. No appointments are necessary. Although the SF Teaching Zoo is open for guests to walk around the zoo on their own, guided tours can be scheduled in advance.

Dates of auction: August 24, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EST to September 10, 2021 at 9:00 p.m. EST
Minimum bid is $250.00, bids are available in $5 increments.

Any questions can be directed to zoo@sfcollege.edu.

The Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo, a unique 10-acre zoo in Gainesville, Florida, is the only zoo on a college campus accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA).

The SF Teaching Zoo is coordinated by ten full time staff members, home to over 70 different species of animals and is maintained by about 100 students enrolled in the college's premier Zoo Animal Technology program.

The zoo showcases a diverse collection that contains both native and exotic species for everyone to enjoy. Visitors enjoy the Bald Eagle, White-throated capuchin monkeys, American alligators, Matschie's Tree Kangaroo and Asian small-clawed otters to name a few. These species and many other mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians are on display in a naturally shaded environment. The 1/4 mile trail through the wooded environment is lined with mulch and is stroller and/or wheelchair accessible.