Salju, Indonesian word for snow, chosen as name for Winnipeg's new baby gibbon

A tiny new resident at Winnipeg's zoo officially has a name: Salju, an Indonesian word for snow, and the top pick among local voters for the baby white-handed gibbon.

Salju was born at Assiniboine Park Zoo on Feb. 4, but didn't get a name until this week.

That's because the zoo invited the public to participate by voting for one of three names, which all came from regions where white-handed gibbons live in the wild.

Salju beat out Kadali, a Southeast Asian name that means banana tree, and Perdana, a Malay/Indonesian word that means prime or first.

Salju was the first baby gibbon born at the zoo's new gibbon habitat, which opened in June 2017.

The baby's parents, Maya and Samson, were matched on a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums species survival plan program.

There were no gibbons at the zoo for a while after the old monkey house was closed in 2011 because it didn't meet modern standards, but Maya was born at the Winnipeg zoo shortly before it closed. She lived at Safara Niagara, a private zoo in Ontario, until the new exhibit opened in the former lion pavilion.