Amorous gibbons keep neighbours awake

For the loving couple, their duet was simply a natural expression of romance. Neighbours of the gibbons' zoo home, however, found their dawn singing was more of a rude awakening.

Now Samuel and Duana, a pair of agile gibbons, have been placed under curfew to give residents nearby some respite from their mating rituals. Zoo keepers are under instructions to confine the pair inside their housing on "Gibbon Island" for three nights a week.

Some locals complained that their sleep was being interrupted by the pair's early morning mating rituals, which include a love duet. Environmental health officers from Bristol City Council spent several mornings monitoring the singing and upheld the complaints.



Phyllis Farmer, who lives near the zoo, said: "The gibbons are very noisy at daybreak and in the evening. The female, in particular, makes a very distinctive call.

"There was no one supervising them after 6pm and they more or less had the run of the place. There is a school very close to the zoo and they must hear them all the time. I wondered if one of the pupils sitting exams might be bright enough to write on his paper that he couldn't concentrate because of the noise."

Dr David Chivers, a reader in primate biology at the University of Cambridge, defended the gibbons, which are also known as lesser apes. "These people are lucky they can hear them," he said. "These are pretty rare animals and there aren't that many people in the country who have the chance to hear a pair of dueting gibbons. It is a beautiful and melodic symphony."