Lowland gorillas in Europe

20-10-2007

Mandji is the largest female in the Apenheul group- she's almost as large as a young blackback male...

02-11-2007

For the interested, the gorilla-swap at Duisburg is completed. Catou and Dorle have left and the day before yesterday Mapema arrived from Paignton to acompany Vizuri, Momo and Safiri.

__________________
My Zoo-Photo's (soon more to be added): http://jwer.fotopic.net

02-11-2007

Yep, I'm glad that Mapema has arrived safely- with the recent death of his younger sister Ya Pili at Jersey, he's currently the only 2nd generation rep. of the Rigo/Ya Kwanza line- so an important male.. Can you can update us on when they're mixed and if mating happens?

Its quite possible Mapema could breed before either his father(at Jersey) or grandfather (at Melbourne) have any more offspring..

03-11-2007

Hello again,

Rest assured we will keep a look out for any news of his introduction to his new flock of girls!

04-11-2007

My prediction is that (providing he's interested) he will mate with Vizuri and Safiri. 'Momo' is already 25 with no breeding so he may not 'like' her... but of course I hope I'm wrong there too. He certainly needs to breed.

04-11-2007

If Mapema is only half the gorilla man as he is supposed to be (being a well socialised gorilla pre-silverback), he will even have Momo drooling over him in no time.

Catou and Kumba were not exactly theatre fun material ... if you get my drift. And that is sarcasm beyond relief! Shame about the valuable genes both had, and shame about their social skills in general.

04-11-2007

NOw here is an interesting parallel....

At Beauval Zoo you'll see 'Asato' has recently sired a 2nd infant and apparently a third female is pregnant. He too came from the Paignton batchelor group and was mating a a female at Beauval within one hour of the first introductions. THAT is how a good male should act!

Asato and Mapema have almost identical history- Asato is Mapema's uncle.(Asato/Kahili= brother & sister) Both were mother-reared at Jersey, and both left Jersey for the Paignton batchelor group at a similar ages(about 7) So you can see why I am confident about Mapema.

Yeah, its sad about Catou and Kumba. My guess is they both left the wild at too young an age to learn proper social skills for breeding. I'm still not sure about female Momo though- she lived at Edinburgh Zoo a long while- not a very normal female I think. Still, who knows?

06-11-2007

On the older ones: I think it would have been very much different if both had been in integrated family groups or even in a bachelor group setting when they first came to a captive environment. But that is of course talking in hind sight .... (if we had known in the early 1970's, things would have been rather different with all these older non-represented males and females in captivity).

06-11-2007

Yes. Its not surprising some of those earlier animals never bred- having grown up in very humanised situations, they couldn't fully adapt to group life (as far as breeding)when it was offered to them. Catou I always think is a rather sad looking gorilla Each gorilla is different to the next. Chessington's original pair Kumba and Baffia are exactly the same age as 'Catou'(1969) and were imported as very small babies. Yet Kumba(but not Baffia) became a good breeder when he was given other females in his adulthood.

06-11-2007

I REALLY do hope that some efforts will be geared to secure and freeze sperm and ovae from the older non-represented gorillas for future use. It is imperative that resources be invested into developping artificial breeding techniques for the gorilla. Damn, it is an increasingly endangered taxon and with every genetically valuable individual gone, another part of the puzzle breaks down!

Lowland Gorillas demise.
06-11-2007

My first contribution so please excuse if I have posted it in the wrong thread. I visited Twycross this weekend and was distressewd to hear of the deaths of several of their Lowland Gorillas. Following in Mamfi's steps last year, Tye died a few weeks ago, followed by his partner (whose name escapes me) . Within the last week or so Ozala's infant (who was about six months old) died and a few days ago, Eva. These events were apparently all unrelated and leaves the two Twycross groups sadly depleted.

06-11-2007

Welcome Tamu. From the title in this thread, you appear to have posted in the right place. Nice to hearfrom you, but about such Bad news!

__________________
Jonathan Beilby-www.zooscene.co.uk

(Join the hornbill group-www.zoobeat.com/group.php?groupid=2)

07-11-2007

Hi and Welcome. There is a 'UK Gorilla update' thread in the UK zoos section if you can find it- but this is equally good.

Ti/Sekondi died in February.
I'm not sure which gorilla you mean by 'his partner'- I think you may be referring to SamSAm's partner 'Yinka' who died in January?

The two recent losses of 'Ndoki' and 'Eva' are also sad. 'Ndoki' died of malnutrition I heard- possibly it could have been due to Ozala's milk supply drying up caused by her stress at having no male in the group.
'Eva' was 34. She died the day before Molly Badham did... Eva's only offspring is the adult female Asante who has so far never bred.

Twycross urgently need to reconsider their gorilla arrangements now. A new male could certainly be obtained for Ozala and Asante as, sadly, there is now no small baby to worry about during an introduction.

07-11-2007

Well sometimes, just sometimes .. these sad events can be a blessing in disguise. It is now or never as far as putting serious gorilla breeding on the map for Twycross. A new silverback + a third experienced female breeder and Twycross could have a stable well socialised family on their hands. Perhaps a a young Bekesbourne born gorilla female .....???

07-11-2007

Yes, I was thinking along the same lines....

But Twycross are usually slow to act(e.g. elephants??) and this bad situation could just stay as it is for a long while yet... I've heard they will consider getting a 'young' male for the two females Asante and Ozala. This would probably be because Ozala's small son Matadi is still in this group- he's now valuable genetically as the only offspring of Ti.

Of course, they could alternatively just make a single group comprising SamSam(the old Edinburgh male who is also Ti's father) plus the four remaining females.(Bongo, Biddy, Asante & Ozala + young Matadi) But its doubtful he's a breeder anymore so it wouldn't help there..