Lowland gorillas in Europe #2

03-09-2008

Thanks for the information. Do you know if he was crate-trained so he didn't have to be drugged? it seems to be getting a more common procedure nowadays...

03-09-2008

He was drugged....

03-09-2008

.. maybe it was too long a journey for him to be wideawake in his crate.

Do you know if the other males are already there(warsaw) yet?

03-09-2008

It's 1120 kilometers from Apeldoorn tot Warsaw.

I don't know how many gorillas they have.

03-09-2008

Quite a long journey then, probably best to keep him a little sedated for the trip.

03-09-2008

I'm pretty sure 11 year old Mapema travelled from Paignton(Devon) to Duisburg, Germany last year (by road) and without being sedated.(Maybe they gave him a little 'something' though)

Formerly Gorillas were always 'knocked out' for these trips but there seems a move away from that now.

M'Tonge is joining at least two other males but I don't yet know if he's the first arrival...

03-09-2008

M´Tonge ist the second male there, Azizi arrived on 28. August. The transport for the third male (Boulas) is still not agreed.

04-09-2008

Thanks. Boulas is coming from Belfast. He is much older than the other two and is very likely to keep them 'in line'. He used to be in one of the Port Lympne bachelor groups and had a reputation as a bully.

05-09-2008

Good news from Apenheul - young female Kiwisa gave birth to a healthy female baby yesterday in the outside enclosure. Another young female, Zoesie, is pregnant and due next spring. Father of both is Jambo from Krefeld.

05-09-2008

[quote=Yassa;70846]Good news from Apenheul - young female Kiwisa gave birth to a healthy female baby yesterday in the outside enclosure. [quote]

Wasn't Kiwisa the one whose first baby was taken & is being reared by Mandji?

05-09-2008

Well, until dna tests can be carried out on the infant Mandji is raising, no one knows for sure if that infant was the surviving twin from Mandji or Kiwisa`s baby which had been taken away by Mandji. The latter opion certainly leaves the question of what happened to Kiwisa`s baby - so I guess the infant Mandji`s rearing was from Kiwisa. Or Kiwisa had a wrong pregnancy test or aborted her baby in a very, very early stage of the pregnancy so that the keepers didn`t notice. Which is not too likely. Thankfully, all went well this time for Kiwisa!

05-09-2008

[quote=Yassa;70849]Well, until dna tests can be carried out on the infant Mandji is raising, no one knows for sure if that infant was the surviving twin from Mandji or Kiwisa`s baby which had been taken away by Mandji. [quote]

I would vote for the baby(Mapassa) really being Kisiwa's, as I've mentioned previously, I've come across a similar 'kidnap' by a pregnant, more dominant, female before. It would seem very strange for Mandji to have had twins several days apart also. Still, eventually we'll know the answer for sure.

06-09-2008

Excuse me if this is "old news", but since you´re talking about gorillas in European zoos I must mention the brilliant site that discusses all gorilla exhibits in German zoos:

Gorillas in Germany - a review on the last ten years and an outlook to the future

If you have not seen it: it is absolutely fantastic! Very, very informative and lots of great pictures!

16-09-2008

Just a small update about Prague troop (as we discussed it a little bit in the previous thread):

Shinda (ex Taronga female) is now on diet to lose 10-16kg, all fruit is substituted by vagetables and keppers are trying to prevent staling food from others. She is a bit overweigth with 106 kg, when live cameras were installed few years ago, because of The Revealed project, zoo realized she was getting up at nights and going to have a second dinner. They are going to redesign ropes and nets to encourage more climbing (more moving respectively). They think her weight problems could be the last thing why she didn't become pregnant yet (overworking contraceptive pill is probably not a reason anymore). Aside that everything is ok, except some Kijivu is having some intestinal problems.

Current troop:

Adults:
m Richard
f Shinda*
f Kijivu* (Shinda's younger half-sister)
f Kamba* wild born

Offsprings:
f Moja (Richard x Kijivu)
m Tatu (Richard x Kijivu)

*all thress females experienced the floods in 2002

new gorilla at Bristol Zoo.
20-09-2008

New young female(Kera) has arrived from the Stuttgart Nursery to join their social group. See Bristol thread in UK zoos for further details...