Djambala in Berlin had a baby on 3rd March. Sadly the baby died overnight of 5/6th March but is left with the mother until she puts it down. Gorilla house closed during this time.
Gorillas Tamani, Tonka and Thabo will move from Diergaarde Blijdorp to Zoosafari Fasanolandia early next week. The enclosure there was recently renovated, bringing both the indoor and outdoor enclosures up to EAZA requirements. For now, they will be the only inhabitants of that enclosure. As soon as the studbook holder has found a suitable silverback, this little group can start their own family. Source: Facebook Diergaarde Blijdorp
Normal certainly not. As far as I know a studbook keeper has to report and get approval when he gives animals to a non EAZA institution, including check of the enclosure, etc. I guess the barriers of doing this are lower when you have too many animals and desperately need to get rid off them, particularly when its a male surplus.
Afaik Riu is still there(?) unless he has died very recently. He was the main reason these gorillas are transferring there, to try and bring his w/c genes into the European population. Maybe it is just the wording that is a bit misleading. Of course if Riu doesn't breed then anything is possible regarding another male but I don't know if they have room to house more than one male.
This case is a bit unusual- it centres(or did originally) around the need to try and breed from Italy's only gorilla, an old wildcaught male Riu. He's been the centre of argument for many years as to how and try and achieve it. Finally it seems they have upgraded his enclosure sufficiently to take more gorillas and Rotterdam authorities checked and made recommendations in keeping with that , so females are going there from Rotterdam( mother, daughter and young male son). It also fits with Rotterdam's desire to move out of gorillas since they lost silverback Bokito. They couldn't bring in another new male for a long time, as the youngest male Ajabu (not going to Italy) is too small and might be killed in the process. Coupled with that the indoor area is very old now.
The whole reason they were planned to go to Fasano was to try and breed from Riu. I have no information that he isn't still there...
As mentioned by @Pertinax in the Zoosafari Fasano news thread, Blijdorp has said in response to questions about it that Riu the silverback has died.
At Givskud Zoo, 21-year-old silverback Kipenzi has died. He recently fell ill, which is why he was sedated for a thorough examination. This revealed that he had peritonitis that had spread to the abdominal cavity. It was therefore decided to euthanise him. An autopsy confirmed that euthanasia was the right choice in this case. There was no chance of recovery. According to the zoo, Kipenzi was genetically very important in the breeding programme; in fact, he was one of the highest-ranking males. Now remaining in the gorilla group at Givskud Zoo are females Minnie, Mawenzi and Kahla and two four-year-old young, male Kijani and female Malkia. Source: GIVSKUD ZOO var nødsaget til at aflive syg gorilla
Kijivu in Prague Zoo gave birth to her baby. Keepers saw her this morning with a newborn baby in her arms.
On April 9, female gorilla Tamidol had a baby at GaiaZOO. It has been almost 10 years since a young gorilla was last born at the zoo. The youngster's father is the new silverback Lomako. Source: Facebook GaiaZOO
Just a couple of updates from years past that never got updated: The female was actually a (1.0) gorilla named Kumbi. Howletts Wild Animal Park A (0.1) western lowland gorilla named Saffi was born on April 17th, 2023, at the Howletts Wild Animal Park in the United Kingdom. Howletts Wild Animal Park
Apenheul had a welcoming party for Banjoko today. At this party, Apenheul also had some special news: Banjoko is going to become a father! The 15-year-old female M'Fugaji is pregnant.
Banjoko has sired his first offspring. If a silverback is any good at that position he will assert his authority and dominance straight from the moment go upon introduction. So, if one of the females he mated is pregnant after only less than those 5 months, that is bc said biological phenomenon. You may expect some of the other females in his family group to follow suit. Whereas I am glad that the genes of Bao Bao have been preserved ... with the one offspring probably his social upbringing and the fact he was already fairly old when he was transferred from Taipeh Zoo ... explains why he only had the one. Still glad bc he is a wild born founder for the entire western lowland gorilla population.
Banjoko did indeed arrive in early December last year. But Apenheul is closed in winter. They only reopened 4 weeks ago.
