ZSL London Zoo New Western Lowland Male Gorilla

The Western LowLand Gorilla Mujukuu is pregnant and is expecting her baby September/October 2010.

London Zoo has had a choice of around a dozen male to replaced Yeboah (who died of diabetes and a virus). I estimate that this new Gorilla will be in the zoo's quarantine around January for 3 months. Resulting in an introduction around March/April 2011.

This hopefully would enable the new baby to be 6 months old and a little too grown up to be threaten, or be seen as a threat, by the new male.

 

A six month old baby would still be at great risk from any aggressive encounters which arose between newly introduced Gorillas.

 

Have they decided on who the new male will be then?

 

The theory is that a new male might attack an infant, which is not related to him, so that its mother would start cycling again and allow him to father an infant soon after taking over the group. The same thing happens in lions and some other species that live in groups.

Alan

 

It can/does happen, it depends on whether a new male is aggressive to the mother or not. He may feel it necessary to attack her in order to establish his dominance and the baby get harmed by accident, or he may try to attack the baby. But a young well socialised female like Mjuku is very likely to be submissive/get along well with a new male so in that case I think there's probably less likelhood of it happening.

Young Gorillas can be at risk up till about eighteen months old, if there is a problem like this. I think that is why Howletts still haven't added a replacement male to (what was) Kijo's group yet, as his last offspring was born after his death.

Jersey lost a young female 'Kumi' at about 5 months old when the father Jambo was accidentally reunited with Npongo and her baby- Jambo didn't actually attack the baby but fought with Npongo and the baby was fatally injured. A few other gorilla infants in European and USA zoos have been injured or died in similar circumstances.

 

I don't disagree; but with animals as intelligent as gorillas it's hard to interpret their mental states and still harder to predict the outcome of a new situation. Did Jambo know Kumi was his daughter, did he think she was fathered by a rival male or did he not care? Was he attacking N'Pongo, who was not his favourite female, or was Kumi his real target? We can't know.
Mjuku and her infant might be fine with a suitably mature and confident male or perhaps not. There are bound to be risks when animals are introduced.

Alan

 

So, given that risk, what's the rush? They'll get all their PR with a baby gorilla and surely could wait until its 18 months old? It will be utterly disastrous for London Zoo if the new male kills the baby.

 

Wouldn't it be wise to get a new male in as quickly as possible. It was mentioned on one of the threads that gorillas still mate even if they are already pregnant so could they fool the male into thinking it's his offspring?

 

But they still have to go thru introductions, and if a fight broke out and Mjjuku became involved, she could possibly get injured and have a miscarriage

 

I guess the stress of the introductions may also lead to her possibly rejecting the baby once its been born

 

Agree on all points. It does depend entirely on the individual animals, their natures and the circumstances at any given time.

Re Jambo- R .J-Scott, their longterm headkeeper( and the unfortunate who operated the sliding door by mistake thus giving Jambo access) maintains in his book that Jambo attacked Npongo, not Kumi. Kumi was riding on her back and was thrown into the air and hit the floor which killed her. In his intensely excited state Jambo did then carry her around in his mouth but RJS maintains she was not the initial target. As you know he didn't like Npongo much, although he would father babies with her.

 

It is very tricky. They will run out of time if Mjuku is due in the autumn, given a new male has to settle in a bit before introductions could start. However, I can't see why a new male's arrival, introductions and the birth couldn't be handled at the same time- Mjuku could be kept seperate but in contact with the others if they are worried about the infant.

 

Possibly but my worry would also be that she could (gradually?) reject it because she was stressed by the continuing absence of a male 'protector' (as happened with Twycross Ozala). I'm obviously not advocating a female carrying a very small baby is simply put in with a strange male- but she could have controlled contact with him (through mesh) until they know what the relationship is. Mjuku has got on very well with both Bobby and Yeboah because she's young and socially well balanced and I'd expect the same with the next male too.

 

It would....particularly as being London they are more in the spotlight than other places. They are in a difficult situation indeed. The main problem with waiting is this leaves the females without a male, and London with a disfunctional group for a long time to come.

I would advocate bringing in a new male a.s.a.p and getting him acquainted with(preferably) all three females, but maybe then holding Mjuku + baby seperately if they need to. Its not ideal but I see that as their best option.

 

Sorry I'm a bit confused. Is there a male going into quarantine in January or is it speculation?

 

I could not agree more here, the sooner a male appears at London zoo the better for the group

 

I wasn't clear either but I think it is speculation.

 

Fairly Soon

It is fairly certain that a new male companion will be found for the 3 ladies "fairly soon" is the quote I have heard. The time frame for "fairly soon" is guesswork, therefore January is an educated guess.

The following is my speculation in that a 3 month quarantine will be imposed whether he is from the British Isles or overseas in order for ZSL staff to do their own medical tests etc.

An introduction in March/April 2011, with hopefully good publicity for the Easter Holidays (Easter Sunday on 24th April 2011).

 

I can see where you are coming from,- that would follow the same pattern and timescale as with Yeboah's arrival- though it doesn't necessarily follow it will be the same this time.

Also after the Yeboah tragedy I think they might be sensible not to trumpet the next male's arrival too much, just keep his official debut low key?

 

A male gorilla has been sourced, he is called Kesho and he will be coming from Dublin zoo, he is 11 years old and will be introduced at the end of August.

BBC News - New male gorilla for London Zoo