Any other animals at Durrell that you folks would like to see images of, feel free to ask. If I am cleared to post them, I'll happily share them.
On the people front, Durrell have announced today that current CEO Paul Masterton is moving on to pastures new. Paul has been (and still currently is) an amazing leader, and done much to ensure Durrell as an organisation have a clear way forward. He's here for six months to ensure a smooth handover to his successor... who that may be, we don't yet know. See durrell.org/news for more.
Not only is this week the annual Durrell Conservation Symposium, with overseas teams in Jersey giving talks and lectures... but... ... we had a baby Gorilla born at around 7am this morning! We'll upload a video to our youtube channel in a minute!
Excellent news. Glad it all went well for you. Has she given birth early? It was stated elsewhere she was due in November time.
Well, we only had urine tests to go on, and there was a bit guesswork - plus some caution! http://youtu.be/GREK862LneI
Thanks for uploading the video. I've also just come across the one of the exchange of Ya Kwanza and Badongo which I hadn't seen before. Remarkable coincidence that the baby shares its father's birthday.
Baby Gorilla (as yet, sex has still not been confirmed) has been given the name "Indigo" Statement from Durrell's Facebook
He sure is! With Jambo as a Grandfather, and Badongo as a Father, he's no doubt going to be a great looking male. There is actually something of a shortage of young females in the captive population of Western lowland gorillas, but we are very happy to have such a promising young boy in our care!
Choughs at Durrell. I have been reading the 'Birds on the Edge' info about the Choughs at Durrell, where a trial release is planned this autumn/winter. One thing I am unclear about, after perusing the 2012 archive, is how many birds in total Durrell currently holds. From the text it seems they have; 1. Two adult 'breeding' pairs that came from Paradise Park, Cornwall in 2010, but which so far haven't(?) raised any chicks at Jersey. 2. Three 'Ist year' Choughs bred at Paradise Park this year. 3. An unstated number of other non-breeding birds also bred at Paradise Park, from previous seasons, of which three will join the 'No2' birds to form the first trial release.. Can anyone confirm if this is correct and also fill in the missing number for 'No 3' ?
Hi Pertinax, I actually don't know offhand how many birds we have! I'll speak to the project head tomorrow and let you know. We did breed one chick this year, but sadly we lost it. It's proving to be very complex, but the soft release is likely to go ahead as planned early next year. Bear with me, will get the details for you soon. Rick
