Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister C C Patil will inaugurate the public display of a pair of Hoolock Gibbons at the Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens at 12.30 pm on January 1.

Animal lovers will have a chance to see this rare and endangered species in Mysuru zoo, from the New Year. The Gibbons were brought from the Assam zoo as part of an animal exchange programme on December 13.

They were under quarantine since then and will be exhibited to the public from January 1. India has around 12,000 Hoolock Gibbons in the North Eastern states. Mysuru zoo is the only one to house Hoolock Gibbons in the entire Central, Western and South India. They are an endangered species and their global population is 10,000 to 20,000, according to a press release from Ajit Kulkarni, Deputy Conservator of Forests and Executive Director, Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens.