The Akron Zoo’s white-cheeked gibbon baby now has a name after a public naming contest: Leuco (pronounced Loo-koh), which is from the white-cheeked gibbon's scientific name, Nomascus leucogenys.

The zoo asked for help to name the baby boy earlier this month. The public voted for their favorite name out of a selection of five names. The top two names, Leuco and Coda, were presented to the gibbon family on enrichment on Thursday morning. The item with Leuco on it was touched first, making it the final name selection. 

Leuco was born on June 27 to the zoo’s adult female gibbon, Parker, and male gibbon, Milo. This is the second baby born to the duo. Female, Lolani, was born in December 2021 and she still resides at the Akron Zoo.     

Parker continues to be an amazing mother and Leuco is doing well. The gibbon family of four remains on habitat daily. 

White-cheeked gibbons are a lesser ape species that are native to Southeast Asia. The species is listed as critically endangered by IUCN Red List due to habitat loss, mainly from deforestation to create palm oil plantations. The native population of white-cheeked gibbons has decreased about 80% in the last 50 years.