Join our zoo community

Why are mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) unfit for captivity?

Discussion in 'General Zoo Discussion' started by GreatApeFan7, 26 Aug 2021.

  1. GreatApeFan7

    GreatApeFan7 Active Member

    Joined:
    11 May 2021
    Posts:
    44
    Location:
    Netherlands
    Hi there,

    Some time ago I came across a thread talking about the mountain gorillas briefly kept by Zoo Antwerp, they only stayed briefly there and died shortly after arriving. Why is this subspecies so unfit for captivity, unlike the other ones?
     
    evilmonkey239 and HungarianBison like this.
  2. TeaLovingDave

    TeaLovingDave Moderator Staff Member 10+ year member

    Joined:
    16 May 2010
    Posts:
    14,735
    Location:
    Wilds of Northumberland
    Well, they aren't necessarily - the key thing to consider is that Eastern Lowland and Western Lowland had terrible survival rates for a long time too!

    The reason they aren't a good candidate for captivity now is nothing to do with diet, or longevity, or husbandry - it's that the wild population is too small and too precarious to permit the numbers of animals that would be required to be taken into captivity, even IF the capture of great apes for captivity was still permitted or deemed acceptable.
     
  3. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

    Joined:
    25 Jan 2006
    Posts:
    12,245
    Location:
    Amsterdam, Holland
    A regular occurence with early gorilla imports too. Imagine that most infant gorilla that end up in the trade are malnourished and in worse conditions for wear, so not surprising they would not make it long term. I just wonder about the circumstances back then.

    Right now both Eastern Lowland and Mountain gorilla have separate orphanages in Central Africa. Same issues, but different circumstances. I have always viewed it a good op to send back Amahoro to the orphanage of her conspecifics to be a surrogate mum to them.
     
    MRJ likes this.
  4. MRJ

    MRJ Well-Known Member 15+ year member Premium Member

    Joined:
    29 Jan 2008
    Posts:
    2,494
    Location:
    Melbourne
    You also should note that there are two species of gorillas, and each has two sub-species. Only one subspecies is established in zoos, the lowland Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). As has been pointed out it took many years to learn how to properly care for gorillas, and while we could now probably fairly easily establish other species and subspecies in captivity, this hardly seems justified. Especially as the common method to obtain gorillas for zoos was to capture juveniles by shooting all the other members of their family.

    Eastern mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) seem to have been increasing in numbers in recent years because of the protection provided by ecotourism. Much better you save up to go see the mountain gorilla in the wild, and enjoy the Western lowland gorillas at your local zoo.
     
    Last edited: 27 Aug 2021