Bringing up a new baby is hard work at the best of times, but in the case of one female gibbon at Drayton Manor Theme Park’s zoo it proved just too much to cope with when she gave birth at the start of the season to her third offspring.

As a result, three month old Thomas, who was unfortunately  rejected by his mum after just three days, is being hand reared by staff at the UK’s Drayton Manor zoo and is proving to be something of a handful, quite literally, for zoo manager Joyce Roberts who has stepped in as ‘step mum’ to provide Thomas with the care and attention he needs in this crucial, early part of his life.

Weighing in at 1lb. 2oz. when he was born, Thomas is now a healthy 3lbs. and is being brought up on a diet of baby milk, grapes and the occasional banana, although at first he “pulled his face” at the taste of the banana.

“Unfortunately mum decided she didn’t want to know after the first three days,” Joyce revealed. “She had had two other babies but perhaps at the age of 35 she felt she really didn’t want to go through it all again. We work round him at the moment and he’s doing really well. He’s just got some more back teeth so we’ve got him a teething ring to chew on. In the wild he would be clinging to his mother all the time so he’s a full time job, 24/7, including getting up during the night to feed him, just like a human baby. He has temper tantrums, just like a human, and goes through about 10 nappies (diapers) a day,” she adds. “We also take him out to one of the enclosures next to the one his mum and dad are in so he can see them and the other gibbons, and generally try and make him realise he’s a gibbon despite his current situation.”

Thomas will be hand reared for about a year and is the tenth hand rearing that Joyce has done. Eventually he will be paired up with a female as part of the European gibbon breeding programme, but in the meantime, he’s a full time job for Joyce and husband Robin, who also manages the Drayton Manor zoo.

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Percy joins Thomas at Drayton Manor Theme Park 
Drayton Manor Theme Park adds more spectacular live entertainment for 2008
Thomas Land ‘pulls into’ Drayton Manor Theme Park