Australia zoos are clearly a fan of the artificially extended birth intervals. Mouila, Kriba and Frala all bred at natural intervals (every three years) while at APP; but when they came to Australia they were all put on contraception, except for Frala. It was seven years before Mouila next gave birth; and nine years until Kriba next gave birth! It’s a shame, as the natural birth rate means a greater supply of female infants to bolster troop sizes at other facilities; and conversely, a cohort of male infants to create a ready made bachelor troop (with the option of retiring the incumbent silverback into). In either scenario, it gives juveniles and adolescents the experience of growing up with infants in the troop.
It would be either a death sentence or a life of misery for her. At least she is settled in Taronga, even if like so many handraised females, she's a perpetual outsider in the group. The main hope for such females is sometimes if there is a young male in the group that they are less afraid of and whom they play with- will sometimes lead to mating.
Johari and Mbeli were sent back to Taronga in replacement for Kimya back in 2013. Johari is especially close friends with Mbeli, who was originally sent to Melbourne to be a playmate for Johari and breed with Rigo, the latter never occurred. I don’t think it would be acceptable to introduce a female, who is an outsider in her current troop, to a troop led by a male who in the past has rejected females of the same social backgrounds. Johari has been given the opportunity to breed with Kibali, but she has mainly rejected all of his advances so far; she did the same to Rigo at Melbourne apparently. A change in Silverback might help her to breed, but considering she is living successfully at Taronga at the moment, with a best friend in Mbeli, I see no reason why she shouldn’t remain there and just hope she breeds one day.
Melbourne Zoo even used artificial gaps in the past. In the 90’s, Yuska, G Anne and Julia were all on contraception and they were all taken off in 1999, to achieve all the births being spaced closely together, and it worked, all three infants were born within 5 months of each other; Ganyeka and Johari just a matter of days! Following this, all the females were placed on contraception again, until Rigo was introduced in 2006. Apparently, Rigo only had two females to mate with off contraception, Johari (who was then still a juvenile) and later, Mbeli. I believe Julia as well too briefly. Rigo was actually seen mating with Yuska, but since she was on contraception, nothing came of it.
I don't think Julia will breed with any silverback now. I believe the only hope is if there is a younger fertile male living in the group i.e one of the current young males- if they stayed for long enough. There have been a number of similar examples in the UK- e.g. Asante in Twycross has very similar background- handreared only offspring of a wildcaught female- has never mated or bred. Kera(handreared)- Bristol- one baby sired by immature male, never bred since with the silverback after younger male left the zoo.
Actually the relationship between Mbeli and Johari has well and truly soured (and did some time ago). As a mother raised, prime aged female (and the first to give birth), Mbeli cemented her position as Kibale’s favourite early on in the formation of the troop. She adores him and follows him everywhere. Factor in her responsibilities as a mother and she has no time for Johari. Frala joined a year later and is a well integrated member of the troop (and mother of two), but even she remains behind Mbeli in order of favouritism. I don’t think this phases Frala. She and her offspring were always the outsiders in Kibabu’s troop (which centered around Mouila, Kriba and their offspring); at least now she’s in between the other two females in ranking. Mjukuu is seven years old this year and will likely remain in the troop until his three year old brother can join him and Fabumi in a bachelor troop. He could be Johari’s best hope of conceiving based on @Pertinax’s theory.
Maybe there will be a possibility in the future with 6 year old Mjukee (son of Mbeli), who Johari is close to. It’s lucky that Kibali is tolerant of Johari, and I was told a few years ago that he preferred her over Frala, which Frala hated as she is a very dominant and outgoing female. I believe now, considering she has two offspring, she would have risen higher up the hierarchy ladder. I was told that female heirarchy in a Gorilla troop comes down to the Silverback and is most of the time determined by three main factors; who the silverback prefers, the females age and experience, and the more children they have with the silverback (male children apparently give more status than females). The fact that Johari is best friends with highest ranking female and that she is liked by the silverback gives her some sort of status in Taronga’s troop, that she probably wouldn’t be able to have elsewhere.
Really? That’s interesting. I visited Taronga in 2018 and I was told that Johari was still close with Mbeli. They may not be as close as they were, as young playmates, but they spend time together. Johari isn’t one for caring for infants, and so she likes to avoid being near the infants, which in turn, would mean avoid being near Mbeli. She has only began to interact with Fabumi and Mjukee recently, now that they are juveniles.
Yes, I understand it’s a jealousy thing. Like Mbeli wants Kibale attention all to herself. Johari has no interest in Kibale (and is content to be as far away from him as possible); so aside from squabbles over food, their relationship is more one of indifference these days. The hierarchy has been from day one: Mbeli > Frala > Johari From what I’ve heard, juvenile and adolescent gorillas (like Mbeli and Johari were when they met) are far more amenable to each other and genuinely enjoy each other’s company. This was never more evident than when Julia joined Jambo’s troop and was welcomed by the young females; but got a hostile response from Jambo’s wives, who were already sharing him three ways!
Article on Yuska: I came across this interesting article from December 2019 that details Yuska’s life. It also mentions a few interesting details on the Melbourne gorillas over the years: PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines. There’s a photo of one of their keepers holding Johari as an infant, surrounded by Yakini, Ganyeka and Yuska (who the keepers had full contact with). Yuska had no inclination to hold her first offspring, Mzuri, until he was two and she could carry him around on her back. It also describes how when Motoba arrived from Jersey Zoo, he was integrated into the troop (which included the silverback, Buluman). The silverback not only accepted the six year old male, but allowed him to mate with Betsy, one of the females. Buluman died in 1998.
Interesting article, though I seem to remember Mzuri was older than six when he left to go to Jersey- more like nine? And he was at Jersey a lot longer than five years I am sure. And of course his death was not at Jersey, though they don't say that. Motaba is a classic case of a very young male impregnating an older female. It has happened in several zoos(Basel, Bristol, Rostock are just a few I can think of)- the silverback can't be looking all the time, while some, like Buluman, are so tolerant they don't object anyway. In Rostock(?) they even brought in a five year old male to add to the group as the old silverback Assumbo(who is Motaba's oldest brother) has never bred. Excellent management as within just a couple of years after he grew a bit, they now have two baby gorillas...Assumbo is still the 'leader' but not the father.
He could already be fertile at seven. It helps if there is frequent physical interaction between them of course- usually it starts with playful tussling etc which can lead to mating. If they don't interact like that of course there is far less chance.
Motoba (born at Jersey Zoo 23/12/1983) arrived at Melbourne Zoo 29/03/1990; and was sent to Werribee Open Range Zoo 28/10/2011. His first offspring, Buzandi, was born 30/12/1991. Mzuri (born at Melbourne Zoo 03/06/1984) was sent to Jersey Zoo 18/06/1993, so overlapped with Motoba by three years. He died at Amneville Zoo in France.
As I said, this confirms Mzuri was nine( not six as the article states) when he moved to Jersey. Motaba was 6+ when he moved to Melbourne. I saw them together with Buluman in the group on my first visit. Buzandi, Motaba's first offspring, now at Hanover, is a very handsome male, he looks very similar to his mother Betsy.
Apparently Buluman was a very tolerant female, evident by him accepting two juvenile males, and allowing one to mate with one of his females. Apparently Motoba and Mzuri were great playmates for each other, and spent time with each other often. Motoba replaced Buluman as silverback in 1998; and in 2006, Rigo became silverback as Motoba moved into a bachelor group with his six year old sons, Ganyeka and Yakini. Mzuri is almost a clone of Rigo; they look so similar it’s incredible. Buzandi does look a lot like Betsy as well. It’s similar with Yakini and Ganyeka at Werribee; Yakini looks a lot like Motoba, and Ganyeka looks like both Motoba and G-Anne.
Chapter on Taronga’s gorillas: There’s a sample from the book Postcards from the Zoo, which mentions their gorillas here: https://bi.hcpdts.com/reflowable/scrollableiframe/9780730450757 It focuses on Buluman and Betsy; and the early years of Kibabu’s troop at Taronga Zoo. There’s two errors: Shabani (born October 1996), who arrived at Taronga as an infant in December 1996, is referred to as a juvenile; and it’s stated that there were two births/deaths of gorilla infants in 1998. One of these was the birth and death of Frala’s newborn son in March 1998; but since I can find no mention of any other infant born that year, I assume the second is Frala’s daughter that died the day after she was born in June 1999. The author states she’s sad she retired before having the chance to witness the successful rearing of a Taronga bred gorilla infant, but is confident it’ll happen soon. The year after this book was published in 2002, two infants were born - Mbeli to Mouila in February; and Fataki to Frala in May.
I believe Buluman contracted mumps at some stage which may have rendered him infertile. But he seemed very placid anyway. Some silverbacks are like that naturally- probably they are ones that for some reason would not become group leaders in the wild anyway. But in a zoo setting they are tolerant and easy for other gorillas, even unrelated young ones, to get along with. Frequently this type doesn't father offspring. (Some other examples; Joe-Twycross, Mumbah- Howletts/Columbus, Assumbo-Rostock.)
1.0 Mahali at Orana Wildlife Park died today due to a large growth in his abdomen leaving Orana (and NZ) with two males: Orana Wildlife Park
Very sad news. Mahali is the first of Mouila’s offspring to pass away - as incredibly, all six of her infants survived to adulthood. Mahali was also the only one of her offspring who never bred. The bachelor troop can in theory carry on through the two remaining brothers. If the exhibit was bigger, I’d float the three young males at Taronga joining them as a possibility. Those who follow the gorillas in our region may be interested to know Safiri also passed away last year. Safiri was born to Kriba in 1996, weeks before the troop arrived in Sydney. Safiri moved to Duisburg Zoo, where she gave birth to five offspring (including a set of non surviving conjoined twins). Similarly with Mahali, Safiri is the first of Kriba’s five offspring (all of which survived to adulthood) to pass away.
