Lowland Gorillas in Europe 2016

Unfortunately Kiki has now had to have her upper arm amputated as well due to infection..

Nieuwe operatie om Kiki's leven te redden - HLN.be

 

Prague birth

Female 'Shindy' at Prague zoo has given birth to her very first baby at age 24+. They were unaware she was pregnant, although she has had miscarriages previously. I believe this was the female that retained a contraceptive implant which made her infertile for a long period previously also. So a happy surprise all round.

 

Bristol

Older news now but in case anyone is unaware, Bristol's C-section female baby has been named 'Afia'. Doing well but still being handraised while decisions are made about her future and possible fostering by one of the females there.

Young male Komale- probable father of the baby, at present is still at the Zoo but seperated from the group.

 

Jersey twins Birth-death.

Jersey female Kahili gave birth to twins on 25th April. One died soon after, sadly the Zoo has now announced the death of the second twin also.

 

Victoria dies at Antwerp.

From the Antwerp Zoo thread- Eastern Lowland female 'Victoria' died last Saturday, aged 47.

Victoria was born to parents Kisubi and Quivu and was the only Eastern Lowland gorilla ever to be successfully reared at the zoo- or in any zoo for that matter- other births to the Eastern Gorillas at Antwerp d.n.s. She never bred herself.

 

She bred once with her father and became mother of Isabel Who was born in 1981 and died in 1995.

 

She did indeed and I stand corrected.

 

After a short illness, Harry, the Western lowland gorilla at Dublin Zoo, died yesterday morning 29th May.
Harry, the ‘silverback’, was the leader of Dublin Zoo’s gorilla troop. Harry was 29 years old and during his time at the Zoo he fathered 6 offspring.
Harry was a very gentle and calm gorilla and he will be greatly missed by everyone at Dublin Zoo.
The exact reason for Harry’s death is still unknown and Dublin Zoo is awaiting the final results of a postmortem.

 

At Duisburg Zoo female Safiri gave birth to her third young .

 

Madrid

Yangu gave birth on June 3rd, a female baby sired by Malabo.

 

Frankfurt/Howletts.

Two recent female deaths;

1. Boma, born at St Martin la Plaine, died recently at Howletts where she was in the Djanghou group.

2. Julchen(Jule), Frankfurt's oldest female (and one of the oldest remaining in Europe), has died aged 52. Julchen was the last of the four original females that formed Frankfurt zoo's first breeding group- Makulla, Betsi, Dorretchen -& Julchen. She had two offspring Derrick( deceased) and Lia, at Ramat Gan Israel and through them, a number of descendants.

 

There's a new gorilla in Givskud, Denmark!
Minnie and Kidogo (Samson's son) have a baby Look here.

 

Great news! The father is Kipenzi though, not Kidogo.

 

Antwerp.

Last week new male 'Matadi' was introduced to two of the females, Amahoro(eastern) and Mambele. There is a short video on the Zoo's facebook page. It has so far gone successfully, in marked contrast to the previous short-lived failure with him at Howletts. He seems also to have grown and matured considerably in appearance since leaving Paignton's bachelor group last autumn- possibly stimulated by being in company of females.

The one-armed female Kiki is doing well but she is only allowed short access periods with just the other females at present.

 

Young male, Komale, is leaving Bristol for Beekse Bergen Safari Park NL on Wednesday.

 

Once again, a questionable decision by the EEP. He is quite young – not even 10 years old. Best of luck to him anyway! He'll be living with 3 (young) females, according to a Dutch source.

 

He was kicked out of the Bristol group late last year after arguing with his father over the (then) new female. He's been living apart from the group ever since. Hence needed moving on and was probably felt to be too old to successfully fit into a bachelor gorup

 

This is how Matadi looks now. He mated with Amahoro and Mambele already.

 

Quite a lot of discussion about this on the various facebooks forums. He is genetically valuable so would have been earmarked as a breeder, and despite his young age, I think overall it is perhaps better he goes into a breeding group now(but with females younger than him so there is no/reduced friction) than into a bachelor group where he might have to wait years for another breeding opening to arise. As Nisha points out, his age and 'single' status might have made it difficult to fit him into a bachelor group also.

 

I fully understand all the considerations behind the move and probably think it is the better informed one. Also, I assume that given being integrated into a new group of young females he will more quickly evolve into a full silverback male (perhaps in a shorter timeframe than we would otherwise expect).