In India, an orphaned baby gibbon lost her mother to electrocution and found comfort in a plush ape

In Assam, India, an orphaned baby western hoolock gibbon is recovering after her mother was killed by electrocution, and one of the clearest signs of her healing is the plush ape she now carries for comfort.

It is a tender image, but it also points to a much larger conservation problem facing India's only ape species.

What happened?

On April 11, forest officials found a western hoolock gibbon infant, estimated to be only three to four weeks old, clinging to her dead mother in a forest near Kohora in Assam's Golaghat district. She was then moved to a wildlife rehabilitation center near Kaziranga National Park, The Better India reported.

At the facility, which is co-managed by IFAW and the Wildlife Trust of India, her care began in neonatal intensive care, where veterinarians started special feeding, continuous monitoring, and 24-hour support.

Caregivers have also started adding figs, bamboo shoots, and Bauhinia leaves — the kinds of foods she would eat in the wild — to her diet. Over roughly a month, she also put on about 160 grams, bringing her weight up to 670 grams.

To comfort such a highly social young animal, staff gave her a soft ape plush toy. She now cuddles with it while resting and often carries it around her enclosure.

Why does it matter?

With conservationists estimating that fewer than 5,000 western hoolock gibbons remain in India, every individual counts. Because the species is also the country's only ape, the death of even one breeding adult is a serious loss for an already vulnerable population.

These apes are adapted to life high in the trees, using their long arms to move through the canopy by brachiation. When forests are broken into fragments, that same dependence on treetops can force them into risky crossings over roads, settlements, and power lines, where electrocution and other human-related threats can be fatal.

Healthy, connected forests support biodiversity, help stabilize local ecosystems, and protect landscapes that nearby communities rely on for cleaner air, balanced water systems, and nature-based livelihoods. In places near major parks such as Kaziranga, protecting wildlife habitat can also help sustain tourism economies tied to thriving ecosystems.

What's being done?

For now, rehabilitation is the priority, and it is expected to take time. Before she can return to the wild, the baby gibbon must gain strength and learn the skills of gibbon life, including balancing, climbing, swinging through branches, and developing the foraging and survival behaviors she will need on her own.

Her caretakers are also keeping human contact to a minimum so she does not grow dependent on people. That gradual, hands-off process can last for months or even years, but it gives her the best chance of one day living as a wild gibbon again.

The rescue also reflects a broader idea long championed by Indian Forest Service officer Sonali Ghosh: protect connected habitats well enough that fewer animals need saving at all. That landscape-first approach helped earn her the WCPA-Kenton Miller Award in 2025, making her the first Indian to receive the honor for protected-area leadership.

For now, the young gibbon's world remains small, shaped by feeding, climbing, resting, and slowly getting stronger. But for a species with so few members left, saving one infant can matter far beyond a single life.

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