THEY are hoping for a girl - but a baby gibbon has got everyone guessing at Thrigby Wildlife Gardens.Owner Ken Sims said the new arrival remained so tightly clasped to its mum it was simply impossible to tell.

THEY are hoping for a girl - but a baby gibbon has got everyone guessing at Thrigby Wildlife Gardens.

Owner Ken Sims said the new arrival remained so tightly clasped to its mum it was simply impossible to tell.

The last few gibbon offspring at the park have been boys so a girl would be a nice addition he added.

Under the circumstances the white handed gibbon has been given the suitably unisex name of Cida.

Mr Sims said the birth of any healthy animal was something to be celebrated but that gibbon births were rarer than some because the animals took a long time to mature.

Thick fur meant the animals were very well insulated like penguins and babies could be born at any time of year.

He said: “Gibbons stay babies very much longer than ordinary monkeys that can reach almost full size in a year. Twins are very rare. This one is the fourth one born to the same parents and we have even sent gibbons back to the wild. We have a new gibbon baby probably every couple of years and they are very much with the mother for the first year or two. This one will stay with the family for four or five years then we will try and pair it up with a gibbon from elsewhere. Their jungle habitat is being torn down in South East Asia. It used to be a very familiar sound when I was working there on a rubber plantation.”

Cida was born on July 29 but still looks very small and spidery nestling in its mother's fur.

Thrigby, near Great Yarmouth, is open every day from 10am to dusk.