I wonder what the reason for the transfer was. Was Melbourne trying to breed her to Otana and were unsuccessful? Was there aggression seen between Otana and G-Anne, similar to what preceded Otana's fatal attack on Julia last year? Be interesting to see if Kibabu and G-Anne breed now and if Kipenzi is transferred to Melbourne.
It said that Otana would not accept her back in the group after she received dental treatment. Both G.Anne and Julia had very abnormal early rearing and neither were fully socialised as a result. At Jersey Ya Kwanza rejected them from his group- hence their going to Melbourne. G.anne has only the single offspring- male Ganyeki. Even if the plan isn't meant to promote her to breed again, it could still happen unless she is prevented with contraception. I imagine Kipenzi might end up at Melbourne given how small their group is now.
Thanks for that info Pertinax. Wow, G-Anne has had mixed responses from silverbacks. I understand Jambo accepted her and Julia, and they both bred with Motoba. Were they also introduced to Buluman at Melbourne before his death? Hopefully she does breed with Kibabu. She must be quite valuable genetically. I think moving Kipenzi to Melbourne would be ideal for her as her sister is there and will surely remember her.
From memory I don't think Jambo liked her/them much either, though he tolerated them in the group. Neither had been with any other Gorillas before they arrived at Jersey. They certainly never bred there. Ya Kwanza was more hostile. I don't know if they were ever with Buluman but he was quite old and gentle. Yes, G.Anne is genetically valuable- she's the only offspring of two w/c parents. So on her side Ganyeki is valuable also.
Apparently G-Anne was introduced to the troop at Jersey as a four year old in 1983. Julia was then introduced as an adolescent in 1990. Like you say, neither bred with Jambo or his successor. I read an interesting article recently about the introduction of Julia to the troop at Jersey Zoo. It's here if anyone wants to check it out: The Intergration of Julia | Animal Welfare Institute As far as I'm aware, Kipenzi is quite well represented in Europe, with three full sisters who have each produced numerous offspring. She also has several half siblings in Europe through Mouila and Frala's offspring so I doubt she'd be sent to Europe. I agree the most likely option is for her to go to Melbourne but I suppose the most important factor to consider next would be the effect this would have on Yuska. I'm assuming Kimya is the highest ranking female (since she has offspring), and when Kipenzi produces offspring, she too will be high ranking. Not to mention the fact they are both sisters will exclude Yuska. Given Yuska's age, maybe Kipenzi will remain at Mogo at least until she is 8-10 years old (2019-2021), during which time Yuska may pass away. If Yuska is not especially fond of Otana, they could alternatively swap her for Kipenzi and send her to Mogo to form a 1.3 troop with Kibabu, Kriba and G-Anne.
Yes, G.Anne as a four year-old had been handraised at Oklahoma in the USA and never kept with other Gorillas before going to Jersey. Julia's history you will know. Of course as females they were regarded as being valuable to make up a decent-sized group, whatever their backgrounds. Jambo was remarkably tolerant, given three of his females (G.Anne, Julia, and Npongo too) were desocialised to some extent or other. I think Kipenzi is very valuable to stay in Australia- another mother-raised normal young female to bulk up one of the two breeding groups. I would plump for Melbourne who really only have a breeding pair at present, plus Yuska as a tolerated(?) outsider. Exchanging Yuska and Kipenzi could well be an outcome in the future if she was also rejected in time. There is nothing wrong with Otana- he's just a young lively silverback- its keeping females like Julia and G.Anne with him that has been the problem. Most males do not like 'oddball' females and react accordingly, usually out of frustration that said females do not exhibit normal behaviours.
Here's an article about N'pongo which I found interesting to read: http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/news/journals/GorillaGazette/gaz1992/gazettemar92.pdf Like you say, she disliked the presence and dominance of the male, Jambo. Understandable when she'd never grown up with a silverback in a natural group. Very sad about her first daughter. Interesting how the other female, Nandi, often sided with her. Not like many of the Australia gorilla females who are left to fend for themselves. I understand with Julia, while there was frustration on Otana's behalf at not being able to mate with her, the cause of his fatal attack was Julia's close proximity to Kimya and the newborn on the day of the attack. The stress of large crowds, combined with Julia's inability to comprehend Otana's warnings to give Kimya space led to the attack. I hope Johari can breed in the future. I think you said before on another thred that an option could be for her to breed with one of the young males, who she doesn't see as a threat like she does Kibali?
In Npongo and Nandi's case, they had lived together at Jersey since babies for about twelve years, with no other gorillas before Jambo arrived- so they had developed a strong bond. This is something which more usually happens between genuine 'family' members, rather than unrelated ones. Hence situations where several unrelated females live together quite happily in a group but don't share that important bond. Obviously in the wild Gorilla groups consist of more closely-knit groups of related females, with less mixing of complete strangers as in zoos.
That makes sense. So typically in groups like Taronga's, would females like Shinda (Frala) and Kijivu (Kriba) have that same 'family' connection or would they inherit (socially) their mother's rivalry? Frala and Kriba grew up together (as half siblings), but I believe they got on better than Mouila and Frala (no relation)? I know Mbeli and Johari initially got on well, but things soured when they were brought to Taronga and met Kibali.
Its difficult to comment when you don't know the individual animals, so I would not like to try and answer your question here. What is pretty certain though is that in a group with stronger familial ties, the females usually share some sort of bond which doesn't normally exist in unrelated animals.
