Planckendael animal park, Mechelen, Belgium. » Planckendael

10-01-2008

I just love your name.......

It is the older female 'Victoria' who was born at Antwerp. She is a definite Eastern Lowland.
The younger female 'Amohoro' came from Africa. She is the one whose actual provenance is a mystery. Is she Eastern Lowland or (true) Mountain?

All Antwerp's other gorillas have been either Eastern Lowland(graueri) or Western Lowland. They have not had any true 'mountain' gorillas.

10-01-2008

that's why I was so surprised to hear this mountain gorilla theory.

as far as I know victoria and amahoro are the last 2 eastern lowlands in captivity, (except for one male somewhere in the US.)

I must say I'm not much of a gorilla man, but this is what I've always heard.
the male is a western lowland and came from artis. because he is infertile, he can easily be placed with another subspecies whithout risks.

10-01-2008

yes, victoria and amahoro are the only 'eastern' gorillas anywhere in captivity. The male in the US died a few years ago. Photos I've seen of Amohoro don't seem to be typical of either the Eastern lowland or mountain races though...

Yes, Kumba is unfortunately either infertile or a non-mater(or both?) so can be kept with these females safely. There isn't any future really for them though.

11-01-2008

That is not entirely true I am afraid! Both in Rwanda and Congo there are orphanages where either eastern lowland or mountain gorillas are nursed. At least in Rwanda both females would be in the right setting.

I acknowledge that the mountain gorilla suggestions are superficial, but as Pertinax mentioned it all stems from the hazy provenance history of Amahoro. I am not entirely sure if ever there had been any DNA-testing on the current 3 gorillas (as in Victoria, Amahoro and Mukisi - the latter has died).

Since, Antwerpen Zoo is about the only zoo to have held eastern lowland gorillas for any amount of time, it would be interesting to know if they ever did research their gorillas this way.

11-01-2008

sorry- I meant outside of Africa...

regarding DNA tests, they would probably show if Amohoro and Victoria are from different populations?

11-01-2008

Do not worry, you are cool! I personally know of 2 locations where both graueri and berengei are kept together.

Regarding their status in Antwerpen. Personally, just exhibitting a rarer taxon/taxa of a given species is no help if the sex ratios are not designed for some form of breeding. A showcase for their wild counterparts ... perhaps .. but that also sits uneasy with me. To be frank: I do not quite know what to make of the Antwerpen gorilla group.

11-01-2008

Nor me either. Its just a collection of three animals as a zoo exhibit. They should have been able to breed the Estern Lowlands more successfully in the past though as they had two pairs from the 1960's. I think there were several (unsuccessful) births to both the females Quivu and Pega, but only Victoria survived. (All were fathered by the male Kisubi as the other male Kaisi didn't breed.) The 1960's apehouse wasn't very suitable for breeding as it was very small...

12-01-2008

Sure enough it was environment wise more than anything. But if I am right there were additional breedings ..., I will check IZY sometime (but later rather than sooner ... holidays!).