Lowland Gorillas in Europe 2014

Lowland Gorillas

That would make Mike, Jambo's nephew. Always interesting to hear of a gorilla with Jersey connections.

 

Mike's father was Migger, who was Jambo's younger brother. The two males looked quite different though.

 

Lowland Gorillas

Just checked online, it appears that Jambo's older sister Goma, first Gorilla born in Europe, is still living at 55.

 

Goma- Its mentioned earlier in this thread, along with the fact that Dr Lang who raised her is also still alive- now 100.:

Jambo's younger sister Quarta ( the birth order was; Goma- Jambo- Migger- Quarta) is also still in the Basel group along with her daughter 'Faddama'-who is Jambo's 'niece'. Goma had a single offspring 'TamTam' (incestous-father was her brother Jambo before he left for Jersey) and he and his father(Jambo) were virtually identical in appearance.

 

Blackpool - 'Kena'

One of Blackpool's three adult females, 'Kena' has died recently. No details are apparent yet. This leaves Blackpool with two males, Bukavu (breeding male) and his son, Moanda and the three females, Njema, Miliki and her daughter, Meisie.

 

Basle

Ernst Lang died on October 21, shortly after his 101st birthday.

 

The reference to the surplus males issue was just an example (when arguing in favour of a collaboration between the EEP and SSP), and I agree the SSP has not 'solved' this issue in the strict sense of the word (apart from avoiding castrations, if that's a criteria). Indeed there are some solitary males under their management, and (my guess) not all are suitable for a recommendation to join a mixed or an all-male group.

Some interesting figures from a January 2014 SSP paper: (a) 77 males are in all-male groups (number of members: 2 - 5). (b) 14 males are being singly housed; however, two of them have been introduced to a mixed group since. [One of the remaining 12 is Wanto in Knoxville. He had lived solitary for 20 years and joined a band of females earlier this year, but the introduction failed.] (c) As a side note, also two females are kept solitary, one of them being the iconic Colo.

Of the 12 solitary males, some of them have at least visual access to other gorillas (5), and the majority is recommended to join either a bachelor group (6) or to lead an existing group of females (3). Admittedly, in some cases a 'recommendation', for the time being, doesn't imply much more than having 'good intentions' to socialise these males at some point in the future – reflected in the paper's diction that "attempts should be made" to join X with Y.

However, the paper as well as my impressions at the Gorilla Workshop in Atlanta last June suggest that the SSP doesn't give up on any of these solitary males, and tries to socialise them wherever possible. An attitude that also includes the above-mentioned Wanto – on him the paper states, "Consider integration with an older female to house as a pair at Knoxville if his introduction to the zoo’s 0.3 doesn’t succeed."

 

Thanks for providing these update figures.

Shows that the majority of extra males there are in male-group situations and they are still trying to work on the others. I imagine Colo at least is kept single now probably more by her own choice due to her extreme age/frailty.

 

On Oct. 26 I visited ( together with devilfish and his sister ) Antwerp Zoo and we spend some time in the Gorilla house. If I counted right, 6 Gorillas were there but after checking the website "Gorrila Land" only 5 are mentioned there :
-Kumba
-Victoria
-Amahoro
-Mambele
and Esian-Kiki
Did I mis-count or is there realy a 6th Gorilla at Antwerp and if so, which one is it ?

 

This morning keepers at Burgers Zoo observed one of the Gorilla-mothers carrying her death young. The young is left with the mother untill she herself will drop it and then the vets will look for the cause of death .

 

It's little Shalita, daughter of Shatilla. Until today, the baby didn't show any signs of being ill. It happened out of the blue, very sad.

 

I'm pretty sure it's only five, see this tree.
How is Kiki doing? Did she look well?

 

Silverback 'Roututu'(spelling?) died at Munich on November 15th. Aged 41.
Heart-related death.

He is the third group male to die in Europe this year after Kim (Koln) and Kisoro (Basel) and the fourth silverback when we include the recent loss of lone male 'Mike' at La Palmyre. It leaves an opportunity for another 'bachelor' male to join this group in due course.

 

Sad to hear but certainly a long life. So Goma has outlived her human foster parent.

 

London birth.

Baby born at London Zoo 9/10th December. Father 'Kumbuka', Mother 'Mjukuu.'

Sex unknown at present.

 

Rotterdam birth.

Baby born Rotterdam Zoo. 10th December. Mother 'Aya'. Father 'Bokito'. Sex unknown at present.

 

Disappointing to see EEP breeding from related/inbred animals. London baby, this baby (Aya is a result of sibling breeding, and Bokito's mother is inbred), Viatu at Frankfurt, etc. Might be me just being a pit picky.

 

I think you have to accept there will be occassional mistakes that allow inbreeding e.g. siblings mating by accident, or a female staying longterm in her natal group etc. Not too harmful as long as the inbreeding isn't continued down the line that is e.g. Viatu from Basel is now breeding with totally unrelated females at Frankfurt. In Kumbuka's case at London, I presume maybe the facts that he was in need of rehoming and his father Keke had such low representation outweighed the relatedness factor, and so worked in favour of his choice.

 

A German TV station mixed everything up, claiming Mjuuku's new baby has died after two days. Apparently good news are no news.

https://de-de.facebook.com/rtl.explosiv/posts/959260780769097

 

I agree. Some inbreeding is not a problem, and there may be good reasons why they have chosen to make these transfers. The funny thing is that studbookkeepers are often accused to manage the population from their desk and from behind a computer, but if they do not do so and choose that social competences, individual needs, logistics or character are more important than genetics, they are accused of bad management! A good thing that most of them do not care about layman's opinions but work for the best of the individual animals and the population.