Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2021

Kifaru Bwana said:
Female Kuimba did not come from Beauval Zoo then?
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Further explanation;)- I also checked on the GorillasGalore/JD studbook also; both females Mayombe and Kuimba, though born at Beauval, are listed as 'owned by Howletts'. This would be in return for the past transfer of females Kabinda & Tamarilla, as historially Aspinalls always get one in return when it comes to gorilla transfers. So despite the 'joint publicity' its likely in reality that Beauval just had to accede to sending them back to Africa, in conjunction with AF.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Apparently "Djongo" and "Mayombe" are now parents:

Captive-bred gorillas give birth in the wild: zoo - France 24

Plans to bring an additional female gorilla from the Aspinall parks to join the group in the wild are also mentioned.
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That would be an interesting development. It does prove my point that young captive-bred gorillas are more adept at being released to the wild than an older established family group that pre-existed in captivity over a good 2+ decades

It seems this troupe is just male Djongo (14) and Mayombe (10) or are others now accompanying them?

They talk of camera traps being used for monitoring which is interesting to say the least. Just, one still needs further information how, where and under which conditions the "released" individuals are living and to determine whether it is a full reintroduction or not (and thus can be deemed partially successful under IUCN guidelines)

I would have thought they might have mentioned the other group under male Rafha and progress made to date with these 1.2?!
 
Can they really class this Island as the wild?. What are the dangers that they have to deal with such as predators?
 
On the France Zoo Beauval thread a more thorough report has been uploaded by @Valentin. The release seems an island habitat and it might even be that they are supplementally fed not sure. I suppose if so, it is not free wild, but halfway house and semi captivity.
 
It is indeed an island. The gorillas receive food from time to time it seems to me in order in particular to be able to watch them.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
It seems this troupe is just male Djongo (14) and Mayombe (10) or are others now accompanying them?
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At present its just these two. Plan is mentioned in the releases about bringing another female from Europe to join them.

No mention of course of the losses incurred in the past (particularly in relation to Djongo's old group) before they achieved this.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Yes it could be "Kabinda" that they are referring to.
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To send a female that old would be an unforgivable misjudgement. A female born 1982 and sending her on her way to Gabon at 39 would be preposterous. I hold out hope some staff at Beauval and JAF know that this is really not on and that a second youngish adept female (6-8) will be selected for release.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
To send a female that old would be an unforgivable misjudgement. A female born 1982 and sending her on her way to Gabon at 39 would be preposterous. I hold out hope some staff at Beauval and JAF know that this is really not on and that a second youngish adept female (6-8) will be selected for release.
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Well the article doesn't really specify which individual is going to be sent so it could well be the latter option.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Well the article doesn't really specify which individual is going to be sent so it could well be the latter option.
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No, I said did not think zoo staff would, it was more to underline a speculative suggestion for an old individual is a definite no go. I would hope JAF has observed the learning curve with Djala & Co.

My personal view TBH: to attempt a reintroduction effort with him and his old group of ladies wa a disaster waiting to happen. It is not like earlier examples of successful reintroduction projects with a wide range of species and orders has most definitely shown us that the older the individual, the more time they have spent accustomed to captive conditions the less likely it would be for them to adapt to wild conditions and challenges in situ nature.

What might have worked otherwise is create a F1 population from these in semi captive semi wild conditions. That way the offspring might have had a head start. I wonder what training they would provide for gorillas re adapting on an enclosed island habitat though and the new generation would have to leave much earlier than normal in gorilla society in order for them to be able to adjust till the next phase .... free release.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
No, I said did not think zoo staff would, it was more to underline a speculative suggestion for an old individual is a definite no go. I would hope JAF has observed the learning curve with Djala & Co.

My personal view TBH: to attempt a reintroduction effort with him and his old group of ladies wa a disaster waiting to happen. It is not like earlier examples of successful reintroduction projects with a wide range of species and orders has most definitely shown us that the older the individual, the more time they have spent accustomed to captive conditions the less likely it would be for them to adapt to wild conditions and challenges in situ nature.

What might have worked otherwise is create a F1 population from these in semi captive semi wild conditions. That way the offspring might have had a head start. I wonder what training they would provide for gorillas re adapting on an enclosed island habitat though and the new generation would have to leave much earlier than normal in gorilla society in order for them to be able to adjust till the next phase .... free release.
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Oh right I see what you mean.

I also hope that lessons have been learned from the first release but Aspinall seems to be firm in his view that this was a success.

Regarding "Djala" I remember reading that he was a wild born gorilla rescued and transferred as an infant but having spent most of his life in zoos I'm sure that re-adaption was a difficult process for him too.
 
Zorro said:
Can they really class this Island as the wild?. What are the dangers that they have to deal with such as predators?
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I don't think gorillas have too many predators except perhaps the odd leopard and our own species.

Presumably there are dangers from non predatory animals such as venomous snakes (though apparently even captive gorillas seem to show an innate fear towards them).

I think that constrictors would be no kind of threat at all as even large pythons would have their vertebrae crushed like a biscuit by a gorillas manual strength.

Perhaps they are very rarely injured or killed by interspecific aggression from forest elephants or Congo buffalo during some freak encounter ? (I saw a documentary once with footage of forest elephants aggressively chasing away some Western lowland gorillas from a bai)

I don't really know very much about gorillas to comment other than to say with certainty that the risk of predation for a gorilla is almost non existent as a danger when compared to what our Marmosets face in the wild.
 
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Kifaru Bwana said:
To send a female that old would be an unforgivable misjudgement. A female born 1982 and sending her on her way to Gabon at 39 would be preposterous. I hold out hope some staff at Beauval and JAF know that this is really not on and that a second youngish adept female (6-8) will be selected for release.
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I think its far more likely a younger female will be selected, perhaps from Howletts rather than Beauval, it might perhaps depend on whether Howletts 'own' any more of Beauval gorillas. I agree sending the older female Kabinda would be very unworkable and I don't think its likely...
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Regarding "Djala" I remember reading that he was a wild born gorilla rescued and transferred as an infant but having spent most of his life in zoos I'm sure that re-adaption was a difficult process for him too.
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Djala grew up at both Howletts and Port Lympne where he spent all his life prior to the release. He spent time at both parks in the order- Howletts(companions) Port Lympne(single male)Howletts (full breeding group)Port Lympne(same full group). But his terrible early experiences in Africa left him traumatised and he hated crowds of noisy people, children in particular. Among other things he showed sign of stress by plucking his forearms. But after release on the African island he seemed far more relaxed, regained a beautiful coat and the arm plucking ceased completely. So I think he did actually adapt pretty well and was more content there. Just a shame it all went wrong for the group and that he now lives alone.
 
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Pertinax said:
Djala grew up at both Howletts and Port Lympne where he spent all his life prior to the release. He spent time at both parks in the order- Howletts(companions) Port Lympne(single male)Howletts (full breeding group)Port Lympne(same full group). But his terrible early experiences in Africa left him traumatised and he hated children in particular. Among other things he showed sign of stress by plucking his forearms. But after release on the African island he seemed far more relaxed, regained a beautiful coat and the arm plucking ceased completely. So I think he did actually adapt pretty well and was more content there. Just a shame it all went wrong for the group and that he now lives alone.
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Thanks for sharing @Pertinax !

Very interesting to know more about him and from what you've described it does seem like he has adapted ok.

I agree that it's a shame what happened (whatever it was that really happened to the females) and him living alone and I wonder if there are plans to remedy this ? Would something like that even be feasible ?
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Thanks for sharing @Pertinax !

Very interesting to know more about him and from what you've described it does seem like he has adapted ok.

I agree that it's a shame what happened (whatever it was that really happened to the females) and him living alone and I wonder if there are plans to remedy this ? Would something like that even be feasible ?
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I'm sure he would accept fresh females. I'm surprised they haven't tried to do it already but probably it would mean bringing them out from England again and after what happened before they are perhaps reluctant to risk it again.
 
Pertinax said:
Djala grew up at both Howletts and Port Lympne where he spent all his life prior to the release. He spent time at both parks in the order- Howletts(companions) Port Lympne(single male)Howletts (full breeding group)Port Lympne(same full group). But his terrible early experiences in Africa left him traumatised and he hated children in particular. Among other things he showed sign of stress by plucking his forearms. But after release on the African island he seemed far more relaxed, regained a beautiful coat and the arm plucking ceased completely. So I think he did actually adapt pretty well and was more content there. Just a shame it all went wrong for the group and that he now lives alone.
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@Pertinax did Djala ever show aggression towards Children,for instance hitting the Glass behind them or throwing stuff at them from the outside enclosure? I know that one of Djala’s Keepers said that he would get agitated and aggressive towards Indian and African looking men. The Keeper even said that People of the mentioned Ethnical appearance and Race would have sticks,logs and poo hurled at them. @Pertinax do you know if any other Members of Djala’s Family disliked/showed aggression aimed towards Children or visitors of a certain appearance. Finally I think Djala’s violent tendencies could have been the reason behind Daimian Aspinall releasing Djala and his Family back into the Wild in Gabon.
 
Pertinax said:
I'm sure he would accept fresh females. I'm surprised they haven't tried to do it already but probably it would mean bringing them out from England again and after what happened before they are perhaps reluctant to risk it again.
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In the article it was mentioned that Aspinall's field team were puzzled about what to do with the "serial killer" gorilla.

Surely if they are so certain about that theory then the best option would be to remove this individual ?
 
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