Lowland Gorillas in Europe 2014

Jengo apparently died from pneumonia. The keepers in Leipzig suspect the mother didn't hold him close long enough to keep him warm, among other causes.

 

Nice selection of photos on Belfast's website/facebook of the baby male 'Baako's first 'birthday bash'. Includes photos of the two other females 'Delilah' (now one of the oldest in the UK) and Kamili (mother of London's silverback Kumbuka) with her new female baby too.

 

Warsaw to Basel

Male 'M'tonge' moved from Warsaw to Basel on 18th August. He will become their new silverback replacing the deceased Kisoro.

Some new young males are soon to be moved to Warsaw to join(?) their second younger male 'Azizi' who was 'M'tonge's former companion.

 

Goma's birthday.

Goma, the female Gorilla at Basel Zoo turned 55 on September 23rd. She was the very first Gorilla to be born in Europe, and only the second captive birth in the World.

She was raised in the home of Dr Ernst Lang, the then director of the Basel Zoo. Perhaps even more amazing, he turned 100 in October last year( this from the Zoo's news section)

 

Female, Kiki moved from Heidelberg to Antwerp this week

Wenn eine eine Reise tut | Zoo Heidelberg

 

And young female 'Habibu' moved from Zurich to Nurnberg on 12th September. Their male 'Fritz' is now one of the very oldest in Europe but this move is likely planned with a view to future breeding with a fresh male at a later date.

 

thank you for posting, Pertinax and Nisha!
(Because nobody did post for such a long time, I was afraid there was a secret understanding not to talk about possible moves, so I didn't.)

Regarding Kiki, Antwerp seems a very good choice for her, and I hope Habibu will not cause too much trouble for Louna in Nuremberg. She had immediately such a good relationship with Fritz, and I hope this will stay this way, after all she had to suffer in Leipzig after Abeeku came.

Does any of you know what they have in mind for the two rascals of Givskud in Denmark?

 

No, it was more a case of nothing much happening recently. I also check the websites GorillasLand and GorillaHavenFacebook for news of moves also.

Givskud males- no ideas except Koln still need a new silverback, and at least one or more younger males will be needed to replace Mtonge at Warsaw as a companion for the other male Azizi who is still there. But whether the two males at Givskud are contenders for either of these roles, I don't know.

 

AFAIK the males going to Warsaw are from Artis Amsterdam and Moscow, however, they might also add additional males to these.

 

Artis have three young males in the right age range(born 2007/8) and Moscow have 'Viking' born 2009. If all four of these went to Warsaw that would be a total of five- I can't see them taking more than that at one time.

Artis have been very unlucky sex ratio- wise with their babies- six male births consecutively. At least two of them (I think) are castrated but can't remember which two- without looking it up.

 

only one male from Amsterdam is supposed to go to Warsaw. I read that Koln will not need a new silverback, as they want to keep the son of the old male (now 10 years old).

 

Interesting. If they are keeping the young male 'Kito' at Koln, they will later presumably exchange his four year-old full sister, who is also in the group, for an unrelated one, but not for a few years yet.

 

Bembosi (mother Binti) and Shambe (mother Shindy), but possibly also Douli (mother Dafina) [ESSENTIALLY THE YOUNGST MALES]

 

Persimon + Pertinax:
yes, I have read in several newspapers that the director of Zoo Köln would like Kito to become the leader. Not sure if this has been approved officially.
About the Warshaw-transfers... wouldn't Viking be a bit young? The only transfers for 4-5yr old gorillas I know of are the ones from the Stuttgart nursery.

 

I would agree- I prefer to see them stay in their natal groups as long as possible- even into maturity if its working okay with the adult male( it often does...),particularly with males that are destined to be breeders later on. On the other hand, they are then more difficult( or even impossible) to integrate into male groups than if they are removed at an earlier stage, so males destined as non-breeders are usually removed earlier. I would say 7-8 is the best age maybe, though I guess it also depends rather on when a suitable new group is being formed or a place in one is available etc.. (I think one or two young Howletts males were moved aged around five in the past.)

Maybe 'Viking' is planned to move to a male group but not just yet.

 

Maybe Viking needs to go to facilitate the introduction of the hand reared youngster in Moskow.

 

Female, Namoki is leaving Bristol for Belfast in mid October
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/zoos-farewell-party-gorilla-105302541.html#DooEQOB

 

Good, she is very important as Romina's only offspring, so breeding her with Gugas is a good idea. It might even have been worth sending Romina too as she doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with Jock, perhaps Gugas could charm her.

Alan

 

That's actually not a bad idea as she won't breed with Jock again, I am quite sure. (They were very lucky she even bred the once). However I fear she may be desocialised to the extent that she won't let any (adult) male come near her now, fullstop but it might still be worth trying. I was told (despite the publicity blurb) that Namoki has copied her mother's hostile behaviour toward Jock to some extent too, although given she was mother-raised in the group it shouldn't prevent normal breeding with Gugas at Belfast.

Its possible Bristol might receive a replacement for her- currently their only breeding female is Salome.

 

Bwana has now been moved from Artis to Warsaw (from Gorillasland website)