Lowland gorillas in Europe #2

25-11-2008

Sorry. Where is Mojoko currently living?

30-11-2008

^^
Mojoko it´s death, he dies in 1997 (Dec.8) in Amsterdam; cause of death Shigella

Gorillas Galore - Captive Gorilla Lists - Stud Book

30-11-2008

And got Mojoko some offspring? Thats the question.

01-12-2008

Yes 0.1 offspring named "CHUMA" birth .Nov-08 -1996

Stud #: 1392 Sex: Female

Hand reared, Date of birth: 08-Nov-1996
Place of birth: STUTTGART
Location: HEIDELBERG ZOO;HEIDELBERG, GERMANY
Owner: STUTTGART ZOO

01-12-2008

According to the 'Gorillas Galore' site(+ another source) Mojoko has one daughter 'Chuma,'(born 8.11.96 in Artis) and now in the Heidleberg group. The mother 'Dafina' was Mojoko's half-sister so 'Chuma' has inbreeding.

01-12-2008

At the time, the breeding silverback in the Amsterdam group was the elder Tembo. Is not Tembo the sire instead?

Mojoko was a young adult black-back at the time ... Seems rather peculiar to me (hence me questioning the data here)!!

02-12-2008

Great to hear that became father in Stuttgart, as KEEPER tells us. So maybe that reveals the truth about Tembo and Mojoko. Mojoko went to Stuttgart for breeding purpose.

Great news.

03-12-2008

Seems a bit odd to me two but two seperate census list Mojoko as the father of 'Chuma'. Maybe a DNA test was done to establish paternity?

A 'Blackback' fathering offspring while living in a Silverback's group isn't unknown- its happened at Howletts in the past and also more recently in the Basel group with a (then) extremely young male.

04-12-2008

Hello Pertinax,

I know the various examples of blackbacks breeding in their natal group under the gun of the resident silverback ... too. It be interesting to compare the individual circumstances of the Howletts and Basel cases.

Where it concerns the Amsterdam Zoo, I would love to get some official confirmation. Will look into the affair here ...!

Jelle

04-12-2008

In Howletts the blackbacks were together with their father. That was not the case in Basel, Amsterdam, Arnheim, Apeldoorn, These males were unrelated.

Remember Chuma being born in Stuttgart. Mother now living in Amsterdam. But at the time of birth of course also living in Stutgart. Did she go pregnant to Stutgart, became she pregnant at Stutgart, was Mojoko a resident male at Stutgart at the time of fathering, or has brought one of the keepers his sperm from Amsterdam to Stutgart?

04-12-2008

Chuma was born at Amsterdam, not Stuttgart. She was taken to the Stuttgart nursery for handraising. Later she was sent to Heidleberg.

Mojoko was living in Artis group with silverback'Tembo' and females including 'Dafina'(halfsister of Mojoko) who was the mother of 'Chuma'.

04-12-2008

Hi Jelle.

Usually silverbacks prevent such activity by a younger male if they can. I know one case at Howletts involved the younger male 'Biju' living in Bitam's group. He fathered a baby with 'Kabinda', a female his father Bitam showed no interest in. She only became pregnant after Biju became fertile. Probably Bitam did not object to them pairing.

At Basel, the male 'Viatu' was very young- only about 6+. My guess is he would play exuberantly with 'Wima'(the mother)who was his nearest-aged companion. Their play then turned into mating which maybe the silverback Kisoro didn't notice.

Perhaps it was a similar situation to one or the other above, in Artis with Tembo/Mojoko/Dafina?

05-12-2008

Tembo was a rather robust silverback and a proven breeder. Mojoko was a more recent introducee with Dafina and the female Shinda. Mojoko was eventually taken out ... perhaps due to antagonistic behaviour from the silverback ( will go an check on this). This all happened way before the bacterial/viral outbreak that killed Tembo et al.

After Tembo, Amsterdam had 2 no good silverbacks as you will know (Kumba and Ivo) and only with the new silverback Akili has it gone the way it should have been ... I reckon that within another good 3 years or so we can welcome a further set of gorilla babies.

05-12-2008

Presumably that means when the two males died Mojoko was not in the group anymore? Artis went from success (the Tembo era) to a period of failure( the Kumba and Ivo eras) and back to success again(Akili era). Like you say, I'm sure they will carry on breeding now if they are allowed to do so.

I don't understand why Berlin have not replaced Ivo yet. I think the plan is to keep him with the old females and bring in a new male for potential breeding. Its a better idea than trying to reintegrate him into the Loro Parc male group.

Zsl male dead.
06-12-2008

London Zoo's male 'Bongo/Bobby was found dead this morning(Friday)

For follow up details/news see thread in UK section.