The siamang-gibbon hybrid is a result of a siamang breeding with a gibbon, dubbed either a siabon or a gibbang. In the 1970s at Zoo Atlanta, Shawn Shawn’s father, a Mueller’s gibbon, was housed in the same cage as two female siamang, resulting in the birth of Shawn Shawn in 1975. Her birth was the first recorded hybridization of these two lesser ape species, although scientists suspect that it occurs in the wild more frequently than they are aware of. After her birth, Shawn Shawn was sent to a research facility to be studied. She was rescued from the facility and came to live at Noah’s Ark Sanctuary in 1995.

Shawn Shawn has a mix of characteristics from both gibbons and siamang. She has the size and shape of the siamang, as well as the characteristic webbing between her toes. She lacks the throat sac that allows them to make loud vocalizations. Her hair pattern on her face is that of a siamang, but her arms are those of a gibbon. Shawn Shawn has gibbon eyes, but a siamang nose. She is a true hybrid of the two species, and an absolute one of a kind!

In the wild, these apes swing through the trees, using their long arms and long, curved fingers. Their diet consists of 50% fruit, with the other half being leaves, shoots, flowers, and insects. Both species tend to live in family groups and tend to the young for several years. Maturity is reached around the age of 8.