North America Western Lowland Gorilla Population

0.1 Kimani of the Franlin Park Zoo will be transferred to San Francisco Zoo.

Zoo New England Gorilla Will Move To New Home | WBZ NewsRadio 1030

 

Does anyone know what the plans are for Milwaukee County Zoo's Western Lowland Gorilla troop? I visited yesterday and I believe it was Maji Maji who I saw sleeping, but I couldn't really see his face too well. (I didn't see any other gorillas in there, so I wonder if Hodari and Maji may not get along?) He seemed to be doing well, he was asleep when we first saw him, but he was up and eating some biscuits when we came around a second time. I'm sure that Milwaukee County Zoo is ready to expand their troop once again, but I don't know if they'd want to make two smaller troops or move one of the males out and have one larger troop. (Both of the males don't seem to have any offspring either.)

 

The genetics of the males are well represented among the gorilla population. Some time ago I asked about it on a Facebook post and they told me "Our two males, Maji and Hodari, will remain here in a bachelor group. We will be working with the SSP for future recommendations of additional gorillas to join them."

 

Interesting! I'm excited to see what will happen.

 

This will not change for a while!

 

The female gorilla "Arilla" who was kept at both Zacango zoo and Chapultepec zoo is sadly no longer with us, she died in Febuary of 2018 from cardiac arrest at the age of 36 years old.

I remember her at both Zacango and Chapultepec when she was introduced to Bantu (also now deceased) in the early 2010's. Back then there were hopes that they would breed but sadly both were very humanized gorillas (Arilla was inseparable from her blanket) and in the case of Bantu he was just a very solitary individual. Very sad , indeed.

This now leaves only Guadalajara zoo as the only institution in Mexico that still holds gorillas.

 

Guadalajara in a position to breed gorillas?

 

No. They've only got two females last time I heard. They aren't extremely old, so if they brought in a male they easily could. I have no idea how big their facilities are and how well they're maintained though.

 

As far as I know there are only two left , both females, Chencha and her daughter Faustina. They would need to import a male gorilla to breed from these which I guess would be obtained from either the United States or Europe. I dont know what the likelihood of this happening is , however, Guadalajara zoo do have strong connections with several zoos North of the border so I would say it could be an option.

As stated elsewhere in the forum Chencha was originally wild caught so both her and Faustina are very genetically valuable animals for the captive gorilla gene pool and it is quite a shame that the zoo doesn't acquire a male to develop a breeding group.

Years ago there was a fair bit of talk about either females coming to Chapultepec to be introduced to the Silverback from Chapultepec , Bantu , or this same male being sent to Guadalajara where there were then three females and no male after their own silverback (called Chato) had died. However, from what I remember (dont quote me on it because my memory isn't brilliant on this matter and I am biased in that I only ever heard Chapultepecs perspective on the situation) there may have been some historic "beef" between Chapultepec and Guadalajara that got in the way of this happening. This didn't , however, stop Chapultepec sending one of its pandas over there for a brief stay so Chapultepec were often the ones making the effort and trying to cultivate a better relationship.

What ultimately ended up happening was the females staying put in Guadalajara and the female gorilla Arila of Zacango zoo being introduced to Bantu. The problem was that this silverback was both a loner and humanized (to some extent , though he was very antisocial and often aggressive to most people except those he had a bond with) and Arilla was very and abnormally humanized so the mixing of the two was a failure with Bantu attempting to attack her. For this reason they had to be kept separated and frankly it wasn't the best situation for poor old Arila who became very stressed and out of her comfort zone in this new environment. Eventually Arila went back to Zacango where she was definitely better off and more comfortable (she died last year) and Bantu died a number of years ago at Chapultepec.

 

They have a pretty nice and spacious open topped grassy enclosure that wouldn't look out of place in most zoos in the United States or Europe and as far as I know they are given the very best of care.

 

That's good. I don't know how easy it is to transport animals into Mexico from the United States, but there are a handful of males in bachelor troops currently that would be excellent candidates for breeding with the two females. To me, at least, it seems like it would be easier to bring a male to the two females rather than bringing the two females to a male. They've got space their as well, unlike some of the possible facilities the two females could move to.

 

I agree, I think this would be the best idea. Generally I am inclined to think that Latin American zoos should focus on native biodiversity but I do think that it would be sad if Guadalajara's gorillas were to end up phased out or not able to breed. Especially considering the importance of their genetic line and that gorillas are such gregarious animals that do best and are at their happiest in breeding groups.

I think maybe one of the issues with bringing male gorillas from the USA to Mexico (If I'm not mistaken that is) is that Guadalajara zoo may not be part of the WAZA or some other such organization so this might be at least one of the obstacles in the way of achieving this. I can't really say with any authority as though I have visited a couple of times I don't really know Guadalajara zoo as I do the zoos of the Capital nor do I have any contacts who work there.

 

I don't think it is in the AZA either.

 

Thats the one. Yes , you are absolutely right , the AZA is the organization that they are not part of (Many zoos in Latin America aren't) and that may be the obstacle to bringing in new gorillas. I do hope they manage to in time though.

 

It would appear that "Chato" the Silverback male gorilla that was kept by Guadalajara until he died in 2009 was also a wild caught animal obtained from Guinea. This just makes his daughter Faustina even more genetically valuable for the captive breeding / studbook programe of Western lowland gorillas as both parents were originally wild. It will be a great shame if there isn't a male brought in for breeding purposes IMO.

 

Gigi of the Franklin Park Zoo has died.

Franklin Park Zoo mourns loss of Gigi, 47-year-old gorilla

 

My heart goes out to everyone that worked with Gigi, but it seemed like she had many health issues towards the end of her life. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears that she doesn't have any offspring.

 

Nope. Pretty sad fact.

 

Videos on N'dija's upcoming baby.

 

There are rumours there are plans to move several of Columbus' gorillas to Milwaukee County Zoo's, the idea to breed them with Maji and Hodari.