December keeps on gibbon in Adelaide

Christmas has come early at the Adelaide Zoo with the birth of a critically endangered white-cheeked gibbon.

The small ape, whose sex may not be known for months, was born early on Saturday morning as the fourth baby of parents Viet and Remus.

Adelaide Zoo says the baby will be an "extremely important" part of efforts to save the white-cheeked gibbon from extinction, with the species in decline in their native Laos, Vietnam and China because of deforestation and poaching.