Kena close up

Gorilla house paddock, Blackpool, 15th May 2010

I love it when your photos pop up at the top of the page. They are always such eye catching portraits

Thank you. I think she looks quite a character.

Alan

I think it was Kena who featured on the ZSL posters advertising their Gorilla Kingdom- which were done in advance of its opening of course, so they needed a Gorilla on a grassy background somewhere else.

Strange she has not bred again at Blackpool as she has had several offspring previously- two of Paignton's are hers + the young female Kera at Bristol.

N'dowe has inherited his mums mouth.

Facial likeness in Gorillas are fascinating. Different offspring of the same pair can l resemble one parent or the other (or a grandparent), just as in humans.

The original pair to breed in Europe in the 1950/60's, at Basel Zoo-Steffi & Achilla- had four(surviving)offspring- the first two- Goma(f) and Jambo(m) looked like their mother, the next two Migger(m) and Quarta(f) looked like the father. The very distinctive looks of the father Steffi have also passed into subsequent generations too, particularly in one grandaughter- Faddama- who still lives in the Basel group and two males at La Palmyre in France.

To bring it closer to home, this pair are the(let me get this right..) Great,Great Grandparents of your friend Kumbuka, so some of his looks may have come from them too.

Meisie the first Gorilla born at Blackpool has resembled her mother's attitude and the same shape of her nose shape. She doesn't (Yet) look anything like Bukavu, however he is very tentative towards her allowing her to get away with murder even allowing her to steal food from him something he doesn't allow with any of the females.

Its quite possible she will continue to look like her mother as she grows up then. Sounds like Bukavu has turned out to be a good father. Males can be very tolerant of babies, but are nearly always very 'piggy' with food when it comes to sharing with older members of the group, they tend to just wade in and chase everyone else away.

I hope he will father some babies with the other two females- its a bit of a mystery why they have not bred too.

I really much doubt that Kena will breed and even if she does it will probably have to be hand-reared like several of her others. Njema is probably the only female which would breed for a number of years until Miliki can concieve again.

Why do you think Kena will not breed again? She has had several babies in Barcelona. I don't quite understand the situation with her now at Blackpool- is she contracepted to prevent further breeding- perhaps because she won't raise her babies? Or just 'not breeding'?