A monkey who became pregnant and lived alone in her own cage at a Japanese zoo left staff scratching their heads for two years, but the mystery was finally uncovered and the mystery male was discovered.
Momo, a white-handed gibbon
at the Kujukushima Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Nagasaki, gave birth in February 2021.
Vice News
reports that while she did have male neighbors, their cages are separated by bars and chicken wire fencing.
They turned to science to solve the dilemma, analyzing
DNA taken from hair and stool samples to trace the father
, in a study that took two years.
The father was eventually found to be Itou, a lithe 34-year-old gibbon, but staff were still baffled by how the two monkeys had managed to find time together when in separate cages.
Momo lived in a cage with large bars that were also covered by chicken wire and boards that separated her section from Itou's.
Momo's calf, which was born at the Kujukushima Zoo and Botanical Garden, Nagasaki, gave birth in February 2021.
But they
discovered a hole in the wall
measuring 9 millimeters in diameter.
So it was that the perforated wall separated Momo's cage from an exhibition space that Momo and Itoh occupied in turns.
"We think it's very likely that on one of the days that Itoh was in the exhibit space, they copulated through a hole," Yamano told Vice.
The zoo now plans to try to move Itoh in with his family, and they have replaced the perforated wall with something more solid.
The minimal but vital hole in the wall has been replaced with a steel barrier, and there are plans for Momo and Itou to move in together with their baby, but the staff will need to move in gradually so the couple can get used to each other's company.
Jun Yamano, the zoo's superintendent, told Vice News how it took so long to get the DNA sample.
"
It took us two years to figure it out
because we couldn't get close enough to collect samples; she was very protective of her son," he said.
"We think it's very likely that on one of the days Itoh was in the exhibit space, they copulated through a hole."
He reinforced that it is important that the monkeys feel comfortable living together before they can be in the same enclosure.
Yamano said, "They have to get used to each other first. But I hope they live together as one family."
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