Melbourne Zoo Rigo the gorilla.....

Yes, so am I. I thought the changeover of the male Gorillas only happened some time this year and Rigo was fully integrated into the group very recently. Maybe they backdated this news for some reason?

 

No they're not! A few are really ugly!!! There's an ugly female in Germany(Undi at Stuttgart zoo) who has at least three grown up Silverback sons-Efata(at Kolmarden) Hobbit(at Pretoria) and Jitu( atBlackpool) they're all very similar with the same ugly faces!!!

 

Oh, come on. Even the 'ugly' ones have beauty in thier ugliness...don't they. Koko (US gorilla who 'signs') is not an attractive female but she has a beauty that's hers alone.

Rigo was introduced in early July, 2007 and has been with the females ever since.

Motaba, Yakini and Ganyeka were removed from the group a couple of months earlier. They're doing OK. They are still in the old 'orang pits' and the path accessing this are is still closed and gorilla watches will probably continue for a while.



Some of the shrubs and trees between the main path and the orang pits have been cleared and there are a few spots where they can be seen. Only those who know the boys are there bother looking.

 

The three boys are doing fine. I'm sure they're missing the rest of the group but this is the reality of the situation.

If there was an option to have several silver backs in the one group I'm sure this is how it would be and there would be no need for batchelor groups and lone males in captivity. The decisions to move animals around are never made lightly and usually take months.

 

Yes, all I'm sayng is that they vary very considerably facially with all the extremes that you can see in people... Those three brother males I mentioned are definately the 'least handsome'(if you like) that I've seen.

On the website the news about Rigo and the Gorilla changeover is definately dated 2006- maybe its just a misprint.

So do you know if any 'relationships' between him and any of the females are being built yet?

 

i did one of my zoo "fly thru's" on late friday arvo and arrived at the gorilla exhibit just in time to have ten seconds with rigo at the glass (he was in his "cave") before a keeper called him in for the night.

at least i finally saw him though!!

he certainly has aged but still has that impressive face. like zookiah said, i noticed some of the vegetaion had been cleared on the side of teh main drive making it possible to see through to the path on the other side and the old ape grottoes beyond. a bit of work had been done to give the gorilla rainforest a new enterance and iot looked like some landscaping was being done to "rainforest" up the path that leads to the old enterance...

 

Had a message from Melbourne Zoo recently about our friend Rigo- I think this somehow took a while to reach me. They said he was 'settling in with the females, that Jumatano was interested in him and that Julia was expected to come into oestrus so they were hoping for some interest on his part at that time'.

So far this seems to have been a very uneventful introduction and Rigo seems most interested in sleeping in the cave.... I guess its a bit like putting a man aged 25 in prison for 'GBH', and when he comes out again-aged about 60- he's not quite the same person anymore...

 

35 years for GBH? I would hate to go before you if you were a judge. You don't even get 35 years for murder.
I get your point about Rigo but.

 

I only said 'GBH' as I know he was aggressive to Yuska when he was much younger. Now he seems a bit like a tired old man with all the stuffing knocked out of him.... But I still don't discount him breeding- at least not yet...

 

Any news update on what(if anything)is happening in the main Gorilla group?

 

no. but last time i was there (a few weeks ago) the gorillas appeared settled. he acts like a typical silverback...... and sits in a cave with a frupy look on his face.

 

The keepers have said that Rigo is settling in well and he's behaving like a true gentleman. He's currently working out the heirarchy of the group (and avoiding Jumatano who still follows him around).

Julia and G-Anne has also shown some interest in the big guy. Betsy is still with us and Yuska has lost a fair bit of weight.....she's been doing a lot of climbing.

Motaba has previously settled in the cave during the whole of winter and Rigo is doing the same....it's too cold to come out (I don't blame them really).

Now that spring has sprung and the blossoms are blooming it will be interesting to see if there's any development.

Motaba and the boys are doing well and public access is still restricted.

Timothy, the pygmy hippo is in Sydney to join a female from Adelaide for breeding.

The otters are being moved to the pygmy hippo enclosure and the Binturong will be relocated to the otter enclosure and the clouded leopard will be moved out of big cats and into the binturong enclosure in small cats.

...and the tiger cubs are now BIG.

 

thats nice to hear about rigo. i told everyone he was a nice gorilla!


i responded to the other, non-gorilla comments in "melbourne zoo developments".
we'll continue that discussion there.

 

mmm. Its not QUITE what I'd like to hear at this stage, but good enough. If any of the females(Julia or G.Anne) are cycling he should already be showing interest in them. Its less likely to happen 'later on' if it isn't now...

But I'm probably being impatient. He's had to make a big adjustment from a solitary life for so long so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now. And you say 'he's working out the heirarchy of the group'- do you think he moved straightaway to the top?- he should have done if he's still a 'real' male.

 

I'm pretty sure he knows he's at the top. I think it's the girls he's working out.....

Don't forget the girls were on their own for a while and Yuska was "leading" the group. Also, Yuska and Betsy were pretty dominant even when Motaba was around...they're a force to be reckoned with.....or not.

.....and then there's crazy G-Anne.......well, she's not crazy but she has quite a strong personality and is a sort of Germaine Greer of gorillas.....I think she has the best personality.

So, from what I understand, Rigo is observing and working out who fits in where. He doesn't seem overwhelmed, but you're right he has been on his own for a very long time and there are a lot of new things to get used to.

 

Yes, there was a silverback male in America 'Ivan' who had lived all his life alone. When introduced to other Gorillas it took a long while for him to come out of his 'shell' I'm hoping for better things from Rigo in due course.

 

did ivan ever breed? and quantitavily, how long was he apart?

 

Zoo Boy if you google 'Ivan the gorilla' you'll get the whole sad story...it will make you cry, I promise. He lived in a shopping centre in a 14 x 14 cage for 27 years before being liberated after a 7 year battle in 1996. He's been in his new naturalilstic environment for about ten years.

I can't find any information on him producing any offspring.

 

Ivan has the most curious history of any gorilla anywhere, I think. He lived for about twenty years or more alone in a concrete cage in a SHOPPING MALL somewhere on the West Coast of America. He was privately owned by the storeowners and they wouldn't give him up.

Eventually in his 30's he was sent to Zoo Atlanta, Georgia, to join other gorillas (Atlanta having previously succeeded in breeding from their own 'solitary' male Willie B). Ivan did finally mate with a female but hasn't fathered any babies. I'm not sure if he's still alive.

Atlanta's own 'solitary' male Willie B(now dead) was more successful- he had five offspring after finally being added to a group, after something like 27 years alone....