For the first time animals have tested positive for Covid-19 at Zoo Antwerpen: hippopotamuses Hermien and Imani have tested positive for the virus. It is not known how they contracted the virus, but they seem to have only mild symptoms so far. The hippo building remains closed for the time being. Twee nijlpaarden van Antwerpse Zoo besmet met coronavirus Not good news. Personally I think it might be advisable for both animals and visitors for zoos to close most buildings under the current circumstances, aside from perhaps the large halls.
Well, I trust Perseus for some weird reason. Almost as if I know him outside of this forum as well... but jokes aside I'm just another anonymous person on this forum as well. On the other hand, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out who this professor in question could be and contact him directly. There aren't that many professors with strong connections with the Antwerp zoo that are also experts on apes.
The taxonomy of the Antwerp gorillas has often been discussed here on the forum, in several threads. Antwerp Zoo has imported a number of gorillas, some of which are in the studbook - some are missing There is mention of a gorilla in Antwerp Zoo as early as 1879 (Cousins, 1991) In 1923 Ben Burbridge delivered a female gorilla Quahali that was caught in Virunga mountains to Antwerp Zoo - she died after a year In 1925 Ben Burbridge delivered a male gorilla Marzo to Antwerp Zoo, also coming from Virunga (together with a female named Miss Congo who travelled on with Burbridge to America. Marzo died in Antwerp after a few months see Cousins 1991, but also Newman's excellent book "Encountering gorillas" In 1953 a male Gorilla Gust came to Antwerp from Cabinda, Angola. He would live until 1988, without leaving offspring. He was definitely Western lowland gorilla Several female Western gorillas were also acquired which are mentioned in the studbook (Josephine in 1955 - died in 1956; Kora in 1957 - moved to Touroparc in 1989; Lea in 1958 - died in 1959; unnamed female in 1961, died in the same year; Xara in 1970, moved to Rotterdam in 1976) Gust was very popular in Belgium, and many people believe they have seen Gust on the famous terraces in Antwerp Zoo's 1958 Ape House. However, after Gusts companion Kora tried to climb the walls of the enclosure, the pair of Western lowland gorillas was never allowed outside, according to Van Puyenbroeck 1989. After Gust died, his companion Kora was sent to France and Antwerp did not have Western gorillas for 14 years until 2002 But regarding the other "mountain gorillas": here we go There have been numerous imports by Antwerp, but many of these individuals were never on show - although they are now in the studbook. In 1957 males KAISI and KISUBI arrived through Mr Cordier. They were captured in the area around Walikale. In 1962 female PEGA, and in 1963 female QUIVUarrived - both also from the Walikale region. Kisubi and Quivu produced Victoria in 1968 - so she stems from 2 individuals originating from Walikale Indeed, in the early days those gorillas were "branded" as mountain gorillas. We must remember that taxonomy is not a fixed fact, and gorilla taxonomy has changed several times - including the fairly recent of one species into two species. An excellent account is given by Colin Groves in 2002. He points out the many different subspecies that were originally described, until in 1928 Ernst Schwarz categorised them into seven (!) subspecies, all belonging to one species including the 4 taxa that are recognised (again) today (Gorilla gorilla gorilla, Gorilla gorilla diehli, Gorilla gorilla beringei and Gorilla gorilla graueri), but also other species such as Gorilla gorilla uellensis, Gorilla gorilla rex pygmaeorum and Gorilla gorilla matschiei, which are no longer recognised, and which also had many synonyms. In 1929 this was revised by Coolidge who brought it down to one species with two subspecies: Gorilla gorilla gorilla for all Western gorillas, and Gorilla gorilla beringei for all Eastern gorillas. This classification remained unchanged until 1969. So in the days when Antwerp imported the 2.2 graueris - this was a taxon that no longer was recognised and they belonged to Gorilla gorilla beringei - "the mountain gorilla" Then in 1967 Groves revised gorilla taxonomy once again, and came up with 3 subspecies, all belonging to the same species - Gorilla gorilla gorilla for Western lowland gorillas; Gorilla gorilla gorilla for Mountain gorillas and Gorilla gorilla graueri (which was first named Gorilla gorilla manyema), which included populations East of Lualaba. Incidentally a paper in Antwerp Zoos member journal by Van Puijenbroeck 1977 discusses this and says that Kaisi, Kisubi, Quivu and Pega, as well as captive born VICTORIA belong to the grauers gorillas. In all following publications, Antwerp Zoo has labelled the animals as Grauers gorillas, or Eastern lowland gorillas, (Gorilla gorilla graueri). In 1968 Victoria was born (Kisubi x Pega) and several more births occurred (to females Quivu and Pega) but none survived. Kaisi never reproduced succesfully. Several other gorillas were imported by Antwerp 2 males and 2 females are were imported 1957-1958, (male Kambuti and Lando, females named Louli and Layla, all died between 1957 and 1960) and are listed as beringei in the studbook. I am not sure how accurate that is, since this is before the revised taxonomy. The studbook mentions a male graueri gorilla VISOKE imported in 1968, who died in 1969. Van Puijenbroek 1977 shows a photo of a female VIRUNGA that was imported on the same day in 1968 and according to him clearly was mountain gorilla. In 1978 Quivu died. Because Kaisi was not fertile, Kisubi was bred with his daughter which resulted in a succesful birth in 1981 of ISABEL. Isabel died in 1995. In 1980 a male, named FLUP was imported, listed as graueri, died atfer two weeks. In 1983 male IGOR came from Burundi which caused a bit of international riot, as Dian Fossey wrote a complaint to IPPL Newsletter. Igor died in 1995, shortly after the arrival of Amahoro, and after he had taken over the dominant role of Mukisi. In 1985 male MUKISI arrived from Chester. When the new ape house was constructed in 1988, a group was formed around Mukisi as breeding male, with adult females Pega and Victoria, and adolescents Igor and Isabel. In 1995 a female arrived AMAHORO - usually discussions about the taxonomy of Antwerp gorillas revolve around her, rather than about Victoria - and people often wonder if Amahoro is not a mountain gorilla. This is usually based on her morphology, as she looked very different from Victoria and Mukisi. Then genetic studies came about, initially for the D-loop of mitochondrial DNA by Garner & Ryder in 1996, showing great variability between the Western gorillas and the mountain and grauer's gorillas on the other hand. The article states that the difference is as large as between chimpanzees and bonobos. Samples from grauer's gorillas came from 2 captive individuals, as well as individuals from Kahuzi Biega. Incidentally this paper also looked at Mitochondrial DNA from Amahoro and found proof that her MtDNA matched with the gorillas from Kahuzi Biega, and therefore she was considered graueri, and this played a role in the decision to send her to Antwerp Zoo, the only place with a (potential) breeding group of grauer's gorillas. Amahoro was introduced but shortly after Igor and Isabel died, leaving young Amahoro with Mukisi and Victoria. In 2001 Jensen-Seaman & Kidd analysed Mitochondrial DNA of Eastern gorillas; including 2 animals from Antwerp, including Mukisi + an unnamed individual (probably Victoria or Amahoro) as well as male Mkubwa from Houston and found all three captive individuals clustered with wild animals from Kahuzi Biega and Tshiaberimu, and clearly were different from the Bwindi and Virunga clade. In 2001 Groves revised his taxonomy - and elevanted the Western gorillas to one species, Gorilla gorilla, with two subspecies - Gorilla gorilla gorilla, and the Cross river gorillas Gorilla gorilla diehli. The Eastern gorillas are the other species with two subspecies Gorilla beringei beringei for the gorillas inhabiting the Virunga mountains, and Gorilla beringei graueri for the others, but there was/is discussion about the Bwindi population, which is sometimes suggested to be as a separate subspecies from the G.beringei beringei ; and accorsing to some people also the Kahuzi Biega gorillas should be separate from the other graueri populations. In 2002 Mukisi died, and Antwerp Zoo acquired a (sterile) Western silverback male from Artis named Kumba. Two female Western gorillas joined Kumba, Victoria and Amahoro in 2011 (Mambele) and 2014 (Esiankiki). In 2016 Kumba Victoria and Kiki died, . A new Western male Matadi arrived and was introduced to Amahoro the only graueri gorilla, and Mambele. In 2017 another Western female Mayani arrived and in 2018 and 2020 first offspring were born - in fact the first Western gorillas born in Belgium. In 2007 Thalmann et al looked at DNA sequences from 16 noncoding autosomal loci from 15 western gorillas and 3 eastern gorillas, including 2 noninvasively sampled free-ranging individuals. The 3rd individual was Mukisi from Antwerp. The study concluded that our data suggest a complex history of western and eastern gorillas including an initial population split at around 0.9–1.6 MYA and subsequent, primarily male-mediated gene flow until approximately 80,000–200,000 years ago. Furthermore, simulations revealed that more gene flow took place from eastern to western gorilla populations than vice versa
[LOL it seems my "class" is too long for a single message - so here is part 2] Prado Martinez et al (2013) and Xue et al (2015) looked at whole genome data of all great apes and of gorillas, respectively. Their dataset includes whole genome sequencing from Victoria, Kaisi and Mkubwa (the Houston male graueri), as well as wild graueris - the data show that Kaisi, Mkubwa and Victoria cluster with the other graueri gorillas, but there is substructuring within the graueris, where interestingly the three zoo graueri's cluster together with one wild individual and four other animals cluster in another group. At this moment I cannot tell where these individuals come from. But it seems within graueri there is substructuring. So far it seems that Amahoro was never included in whole genome sequencing studies. So there is a lot of literature already, and no need for me to publish any of this in a scientific paper, since there is no question to begin with. Others have published, and the whole discussion is based on speculations, and people forget how flexible taxonomy can be. Regarding Tervuren - My goal was to do CT scanning of bonobo specimens in Tervuren, and while we were at it, I also had the gorillas and chimpanzees scanned. This was not done for any taxonomic status. 11 gorillas were all juveniles, except one adult male who came straight from the congo. Some were labelled as coming from Antwerp Zoo, including a young individual were labelled as coming from Antwerp Zoo in 1925 and labelled as Gorilla beringei. Well now, class dismissed, I reckon. References Cousins D (1991) Gorillas in Europe, 1855-1955 - a chronological list. Int Zoo News 38(7): 20-25 Dixson AF 1982. The Natural History of the Gorilla. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London. Garner KJ, Ryder OA (1996) Mitochondrial DNA diversity in gorillas. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 6, 39–48 Groves C (2002) A History of Gorilla Taxonomy. In "Gorilla Biology : a multidisciplinary Perspective Cambridge University Press pp 15-34 Jensen-SeamanMI & Kidd KK (2001) Mitochondrial DNA variation and biogeography of eastern gorillas Mol. Ecol. 10, 2241–2247 Prado Martinez et al (2013) Great ape genetic diversity and population history Thalman et al (2007) The Complex Evolutionary History of Gorillas: Insights from Genomic Data Mol. Biol. Evol. 24(1):146–158. 2007 Xue et al (2015) Mountain gorilla genomes reveal the impact of long-term population decline and inbreeding. Nature VOL 348 ISSUE 6231: 242-245 Van Puijenbroek B (1977) Onze zoologische verzamelingen - Zoogdieren - onze gorilla's.. Zoo 42(3): 89-93 Van Puijenbroek B (1989) Mensapengebouw, heropening lente 1989. Zoo ANtwerpen 54(4): 30-34
A Malayan tapir calf was born on Saturday. Maleise tapir geboren in Antwerpse Zoo, Instagramvolgers kiezen naam
You might be interested in Matadi's background- he was born in Twycross UK, and later moved to a bachelor group at Paignton until he became silverback. Then moved again, to start a new group at Howletts, but they found him difficult to cope with (possibly because of the close proximity of another group and the upset this caused both males) and after just a few months he was moved to Antwerp. Here he has settled well as the breeding record shows, though initially he was indirectly responsible for the death of the female 'EsianKiki' after he attacker her and damaged her arm through a partition.
In which years did he live in Paington? Very interesting, I did'nt know about these gorillas and I've never found any information about them. If there was already a gorilla in the collection in 1879, it means that it lived in the first Monkey House (also called Monkey Palace). This house completely burned down just 2 years later. I think the gorilla was already dead by that time, otherwise it would have been called a rare and precious species like the orangutans that perished in the fire. There was already a young mountain gorilla in the collection in 1948, and there was also a mountain gorilla in 1929. The last one lived in one of the two smaller outdoor cages of the Monkey Building, which was demolished in 1978. Although it has been mentioned here that they were not mountain gorillas, they still look very much like mountain gorillas.
I know. I have seen Matadi in Twycross when he was a kid and knew his parents quite well since these gorillas were my neighbours (pun intended) for 4 months when I observed bonobos in Twycross Zoo. To keep my story short I did left out many stories and gorilla facts. But thanks for your comment.
I know of a photo of a (mountain) gorilla from 1929 because I have seen it on the Antwerp zoo photo archive website and I think it is probably Marzo, and the photo is misdated. Since we know he died a year after arrival. It could also be Quahali and then the date would be even more wrong. Alternatively it could be a third mountain gorilla. But there is no record of that, while the Ben Burbridge gorilla's are quite well documented. I can recommend James Newman's book "encountering gorillas". In Van Puijenbroecks 1977 article there is also another photo of a mountain gorilla from this Era but unclear which one it is. What is your source for the 1948 gorilla?
Also the Image Bank of the KMDA, under the category "Berggorilla" there are 4 photos of which 2 are labeled with a date. The one from 1948 is also among them. Further on the Image Bank there are only photos of 'mountain gorillas' which were probably Eastern lowland gorillas.
I thought so. The image bank of Kmda is totally unreliable if you ask me, including listing bonobos as gorilla's and much worse. Also individuals are often mislabeled, including an old photo of a mountain gorilla which should probably be Marzo or Quahali which is sometimes labeled as Gust. Dates are also often incorrect. Sad because it creates a lot of confusion.
Yes, often photos are labeled as a different animal, but it's still very useful, but since these dates were very many years different from other gorilla dates and books know less than the Antwerp Zoo archives themselves I thought I should mention it anyway. However, the years are usually correct, but sometimes there are some mistakes. I hope the KMDA does something about this soon, maybe someone can send them an email about this.
Although this goes for all Belgian zoos, I will post this in the Antwerp thread. Under new decision announced by the Belgian federal government tonight and going into effect on Sunday, most indoor spaces have to be closed, including animal houses and indoor exhibits in zoos. The outdoor areas of zoos can remain open, and outdoor events can also continue if they do not make use of tents or other covered spaces and if separate entrances and exits are provided if more than 100 people are present. OVERZICHT - Van winkelen tot sport: deze nieuwe coronamaatregelen heeft het Overlegcomité genomen
Red fox catched at the Zoo. The animal was already known to visit the Zoo ( at night ) for several months but now it is catched. The animal will be send to Natuurhulpcentrum Opglabbeek and from there it will be released into a more natural environment.
