So after reading through the eastern lowland gorilla's wikipedia page, It says that there are 24 in zoo's! Now, I'm aware that there is the 2 ealderly females at antwerp, but my question is what zoo's keep eastern lowland gorrila? Also, what zoo's have kept mountain/eastern lowland/cross river gorilla in the past?
London Zoo had a short-lived mountain gorilla “Reuben”; he arrived in 1960 and, sadly, died of pneumonia in 1962. I remember seeing him in the old Monkey House as a very small child. (London Zoo also had two young Eastern Lowland gorillas about the same time so, with famous Western lowland gorilla ”Guy” too, there were three different forms in the collection simultaneously.) The gorilla “Meng” who arrived at London Zoo in 1938 was considered to be a mountain gorilla at the time but I wonder if it was really an Eastern lowland. (This animal never seemed to attract much publicity, possibly because the first giant pandas arrived the same year.) There were also two female mountain gorillas in Cologne Zoo in the 1970s. I believe that, long ago, there was also a genuine mountain gorilla in the New York (Bronx) Zoo. I think that the famous “mountain” gorillas “Ngagi” and “Mbongo” at San Diego Zoo in the 1930s were really Eastern lowland gorillas. And, of course, there were the Eastern lowland gorillas at Chester, one of which was sent to Antwerp.
They were definately Eastern Lowland and are listed as such in the 2010 International Studbook. At the end of this studbook is a historical listing of Mountain/Eastern Gorillas held in Zoos. However some of these listings are either innaccurate, or debatable (e.g. some of the earlier Antwerp gorillas; Rundi & Tanga at London were definately Eastern Lowland, not Mountain, though Reuben was definately a Mountain. Not sure about Meng) 'Sumaili' at Bronx Zoo was an Eastern Lowland, not Mountain. The much earlier 'Miss Congo' at Bronx was a true Mountain Gorilla though seems not listed at all. Toni at Hanover was definately Eastern Lowland, as were the 1950/60's imports to Antwerp. 'Mkubwa' at Oklahoma/Houston was definately Eastern Lowland, however the female 'Josepha' (from Tel Aviv) was an ordinary Western Lowland Gorilla. Despite the longer list, I know of only four undisputed Mountain(beringei) Gorillas which have been in Zoos; f.Miss Congo. (1920's) New York Bronx(not listed) m.Reuben. London Zoo. f.f. CoCo & Pucker- Cologne. Germany. (Some of the others listed may have been too but will always remain debatable now.) 'Cross River' Gorilla('deihli') only the one female at Limbe is listed. Any others entering captivity in the past wouldn't be identified as such as its a recent classification- but its quite possible they did, given the lack of clear differentation features from other Western Lowlands.
Does anyone think that there is any likelihood of Eastern lowland (not a name that makes sense to me, given our current understanding of taxonomy!) gorillas coming back into zoos, probably via rescue animals?
Wow guys, all this infomation is really interesting, thankyou very much!. It didn't suprise me that london and antwerp zoo have kept eastern lowland/mountain gorilla in the past due too there colonial monopoly in that part of the world. does anyone know if there are 24 eastern lowland gorilla in zoo's or is that infomation inaccurate? Also, why haven't eastern lowland or mountain gorilla, or even cross river gorilla's become popular in captivity and that western lowland seem too have flourished?
There most certainly aren't 24 'graueri' in captivity!! - there are 2, both females at Antwerp. Any other current claims to have them are probably erroneous/wrong. Why so few? Popularity doesn't come into it. Unavailability is the main answer. I think any fresh imports out of Africa would nowadays be frowned on by the Zoo community too- unless there was a very substantial reason for their transfer into zoos. Even Lowland Gorillas no longer come into zoos from the wild nowadays (with very occassional exceptions such as smuggled animals.) 'Diehli'(Cross River) gorilla was only quite recently discovered/recognised as a new species and there are probably only a couple of hundred or so in the wild. So again you're unlikely to see any leaving Africa. To all intents and purposes they are virtually identical in appearance to other Western Gorillas anyway.
Could the number be allowing for individuals in rescue centres in their home range? I would imagine there are one or two rescues in Africa (orphaned, ill, unable to be released back to the wild etc). If there are rescue centres accomodating for these, the '24' number doesn't sound too unfeasible.
I think its just wrong information. It says '24 in Zoos' - as against 'in captivity' though its possible as you suggest there are odd ones in Africa, but not 22 I don't think. ISIS also only lists the 2 in Antwerp and none in Africa. Neither of the photos on the Wikipedia article are Eastern Lowlands either, both are Western Gorillas.
It appears that the source for the quote "24 in zoos" comes from this book: Prince-Hughes, Dawn (1987). Songs of the Gorilla Nation. Harmony. p. 66. ISBN 1400050588. So, as it was written in 1987 that fact may have been accurate then?
Definately not. There were only about half a dozen at that time (Antwerp; about 4; Chester 1; Oklahoma/Houston 1), never more.
Reuben Must have been 1961 at London Zoo with the wonderful Newmark brothers, a group of youngsters (I was 12, I think) met "Reuben", said to be beringei, when he was let out of the indoor cage into the service tunnel beneath. He was gentle and deliberate, to anthropomorphize, perhaps not unjustifiably, thoughtful, unlike the young chimp with which he shared, which was a hooligan."Guy" was demoted to 2nd most wonderful creature on the planet, after 8 years at the top. My Facebook image is a Mountain Gorilla, says it all. The keepers wept when he and two infants, described as Mountains, died of pneumonia. I always thought it more likely that bringei would be brought into captivity than graueri because their range was then more accessible.
Found an old article about the Gorillas at Antwerp Zoo in which 2 Mountain gorillas are mentioned but I guess they were both Eastern lowlands, Kaisi and Kisubi. There are pictures in this article but without names so I don't know which is which, will upload them in the Antwerp - Gallery.
The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, have kept gorillas since sometime in the early 60s/50s,Since then they have had three troops, the original group from the 60s (additional animals arrived in the 70s), A troop from Taiping Zoo (later released in Cameroon in 2007) And the current 4 Males that arrived from Zurich Zoo in 2010. The original troop, is the one I'm questioning as possibly being Eastern Lowland Gorillas, In this video (at 2:55), you can see multiple shot of the silverback as well as a few females. To me, at least, These seem to have a darker and fluffier front ( a characteristic of Easterns). Unfortunately all articles and zoo guides mentioning the gorillas from the 60s, simply refer to them at "Gorillas" and does not specify. Would anybody who knows more about gorillas then I do, be able to positively identify them as Western or Eastern Lowland Gorillas?
Thanks for the reply, I found an old "gorilla family tree" of the zoo mere minutes after posting the message (just my luck! ), which stated that the animals at Pretoria at the time were all wild-caught in Cameroon. Which would mean they are absolutely Westerns. Appreciate the answer nonetheless!
