Melbourne Zoo Rigo the gorilla.....

Status
Not open for further replies.
gretak25 said:
is much loved in Melbourne (even though we haven't seen him for a while).....One thing I do know is that if he goes on display again the zoo will make a lot of money.
Click to expand...

yes and no - i certainly think rigo IS potentially a big star, i think he has a sort of cult following of sorts. certainly, he was (apart from mzuri) the only gorilla in which my family knew the name of and it was all thanks to some bad publicity in the herald that branded him a bad gorilla in a gracious front page article. it must have been the only time my mother ever bought the herald, but for years my fridge was graced with a large front page photo of rigo, the big buff angry gorilla under the title "rigo the wife beater".

however, i can't help believe apart my anaomaly family, outside of zoofans rigos not really well known and potentially no more "a star" than motaba or any other impressive silverback (okay so apparently rigo is the george cloony of gorillas though....in fact if he does fail to integrate with the troop, judging from the way those FOTZ volunteers talk their are quite a few 60 something year old women who would be more than happy to take him out!). anyhow, i guess hwta i'mm trying to say is that to most people a gorilla is a gorilla, unless the zoo tells them otherwise. so far they haven't really made a big fuss of advertising rigo, the zoos original poster bad boy and i doubt they ever will...

gretak25 said:
At 40 we can only hope that he can integrate with the group....QUOTE]

absolutely. lets hope so. in fact they would have trialled some introductions by now. unfortunately the old ape grottoes in which he has spent most of his life are totally unsuitable for introductions as they are tiny and have dangerous deep moats in which a gorilla can easily fall and injure (potentially fatally) itself. i don't think that ever helped rigo's cause...

gretak25 said:
Maybe it is kinder to not have him on display...
Click to expand...
the enclosure is no real issue in my opinion. its is equally well designed for the animals that live within it as the people that visit. in fact i would dare say its potentially the best animal exhibit in australia - and surely one of the best gorilla exhibits in the world. there is plenty of space to get away from eachother and out of the public eye.
Click to expand...
 
patrick said:
yes and no - i certainly think rigo IS potentially a big star, i think he has a sort of cult following of sorts. certainly, he was (apart from mzuri) the only gorilla in which my family knew the name of
Click to expand...

Its fascinating to study the cultural aspect of Gorillas in captivity and how they impinge on the publics' psyche. Virtually all zoos worldwide which have ever exhibited fullygrown silverbacks have just the one 'famous' gorilla that zoo/city's public identify with, and ONLY that one sticks in their minds. There have been many famous ones- 'Massa' at Philadelphia, 'Phil' at St Louis, 'Bushman' at Chicago( who impressed Hitler who supposedly donated a lorry tyre as a present for his amusement) Willie B at Atlanta(a parallel male to Rigo who also joined a group late in life..) Bobby at Berlin etc etc.

In London there was the famous 'Guy' and despite having been dead nearly 30 years he is the ONE Gorilla whose name Londoners know- there have been a succession of about five silverbacks at London Zoo since, but people STILL say "look, its Guy the Gorilla"- its part of their culture. Ya Kwanza/Mzuri is famous in Melbourne but at Jersey where he now lives, he's nothing like as well known as his predessor 'Jambo' (Motaba's dad) who lived there a long time, had many offspring and became world- famous when he 'rescued' the child who fell into the enclosure. So people who visit the zoo look at Mzuri but still talk about Jambo!

So, like these other males, past and present, around the world, Rigo is definately Melbourne's 'star' gorilla and always will be. I'll bet people will flock in to see him again if he is integrated successfully in the troop, and the gate receipts will rocket...
 
yes your very spot on about the public generally identifying with just one gorilla - and what you say makes perfect sense except for the unfortunate fact that rigo has never truly been melbournes star gorilla - that honer was bestowed apon his son mzuri.

when i said rigo was the zoos "poster boy" i literally meant just that - he is the silverback on the poster of one of the most heavily used promotional photographs at the zoo.

he does have a cult following of sorts with zoo fans no doubt. and being mzuri's father and having such a charismatic personality there is potential for some good publicity there. but i wonder if the zoo will ever make the most of it.

i think they could drum up a story out of his history, but would that reflect well apon the zoo?

no i think they will quietly pull a switcheroo with motaba for rigo and be done with it... but i do hope your right. i want melbourne to continue to be famous as one of the worlds best gorilla zoos - regardless of their elephants.
 
patrick said:
.

when i said rigo was the zoos "poster boy" i literally meant just that - he is the silverback on the poster of one of the most heavily used promotional photographs at the zoo.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think I know the poster photo you mean... I have a fridge magnet on my fridge of him too, bought on one of my MElbourne visits- so I guess subconsciously I get reminded of him every day!

There are regular visitors to many zoos who are avid Gorilla fans- often middle aged ladies... Some of the german/swiss zoos have whole cohorts of them. These people aren't like the general public in that they often DO know all the individual members of a group, almost as well as the keepers! When it was announced that the homebred Bokito(young male) at Berlin Zoo was going to be sent to China, the Berlin 'fans' rose up in protest to stop it happening.(ghe is now at another European zoo- Rotterdam)

I'm sure its much the same at Melbourne as it happens everywhere. Yes, Mzuri was really the star there because of his famous conception and handrearing. Like Bokito in Germany, I know there was a huge fuss when he left the zoo.
 
yeah - then the zoo reminded the public that he cant have sex with his mother or sister and everyone went "eww - yeah send him away!" ;)

your spot on about the middle-aged female gorilla fanatics. theres always one or two, at the glass quietly correcting parents point that point to one of their beloved female gorillas and shout "look at the monkey - isn't he big!"..
 
patrick said:
your spot on about the middle-aged female gorilla fanatics. theres always one or two, at the glass quietly correcting parents point that point to one of their beloved female gorillas and shout "look at the monkey - isn't he big!"..
Click to expand...

The last time I went to Melbourne I met one at the glass window watching the gorillas..., she was ever so nice- when she discovered my (fanatical) interest she brought me in some archival photos the next day of some of the group, including an interesting one of Mzuri, taken the day before he left for Jersey. They're all in one of my albums of course along with my own shots.....

Interestingly, the 'lady gorilla fan' phenomenon(spelling?) isn't so marked in UK- but its big in Germany!

And yes its universal that if the silverback of the group happens to be out of sight, visitors always home in the nearest female- "look at that big one, that must be the silverback..." :)
 
grantsmb - Thanks for the info. on gorilla behaviour. Totally amused and a bit of a tear to know that Rigo's son exhibits the same behaviour. Makes me feel better. Maybe he inherited it from his dad rather than an expression of frustration (which I always thought it was). I have not visited many zoos, only Melbourne and Taronga so your insight was appreciated. Our gorilla enclosure is very good and there would be lots of spots for him to retreat so lets cross our fingers.
 
gretak25 said:
grantsmb - Thanks for the info. on gorilla behaviour. Totally amused and a bit of a tear to know that Rigo's son exhibits the same behaviour. Makes me feel better. Maybe he inherited it from his dad rather than an expression of frustration (which I always thought it was). I have not visited many zoos, only Melbourne and Taronga so your insight was appreciated. Our gorilla enclosure is very good and there would be lots of spots for him to retreat so lets cross our fingers.
Click to expand...

Last year someone I know visited Jersey and Mzuri/Ya Kwanza hurled a lump of wood at him- got him on the shoulder with it too! I think throwing things is just a habit some males have anyway- but frustration/annoyance will obviously make it far worse. Sometimes zoo authorities have actually been forced to move a silverback to another zoo or group because they throw stuff(principally faeces) at the public...(in Rigo's case they used the netting to overcome this problem)

I think that IF Rigo successfully integrates with the females, he'll settle down in the big enclosure and his 'macho' behaviour towards people will largely be a thing of the past for three reasons; 1. its a big enclosure where he has plenty of space/privacy 2. he is in a calm/happier situation with other gorillas 3. he is much older now- like people, older silverbacks are much quieter than the young 'bolshy' ones.

I hope I'm proved right in all this...:)
 
mzuri always got a major kick out of a bit of public interaction - especially when he got into his early teens. he enjoyed charging past the glass and giving it a good slap right were some unsuspecting vistors head was gazing from. effecively getting a decent sized scream and reaction form everyone. you could see he clearly enjoyed it..
 
That's typical behaviour of blackback and young silverback males- they seem at their most mischevious at that stage. As they grow older they become more calm and phlegmatic- tend to turn their backs on the public more. Any much older male that still repeatedly displays/ throws stuff etc towards the public I'd say was definately in a stressed situation(Rigo?)

Did you see the thread about the gorilla Bokito at Rotterdam who escaped and bit the lady? Seems she was one of those 'Gorillawomen' we discussed with a 'special relationship' but she may have got him annoyed too. :(
 
yes i read that and to be honest i fnd it pretty funny (though only because neither ape nor human was seriously injured)..

i should go to melb again soon and see if rigo is living with the girls yet.
 
went to melbourne today. there was a sign at the rainforest exhibit informing the public about the introductions with rigo and apologising if "not all the gorillas are in the exhibit"...

and unfortunately they were not. i'm almost certain rigo was not on display nor could i see any of the other boys in the grottoes (when i peeked over the fence that now shuts this section off to the public)....
 
oh and heres another thought....

ya-kwanza/mzuri (are we destined to forever hyphenate this apes name?!!!) was the first gorilla born in the world via AI. his father was rigo.

if rigo was so extremely important genetically - then i wonder why he was never used to AI any of the melbourne troop ever again. it wouldn't have solved the issue of rigo being alone but i'm guessing motaba would have raised the infant assuming it to be his own (unless of course he recognised it as not - and its not such as illy idea, research has shown that chimps are far better at recognising relatedness amongst individuals than people are, which makes sense when you think about it..). nonetheless i am happy rigo is going to live out a few more of his years (he's no spring chicken) with some girlfreinds. he has never met three of the girls before.
 
patrick said:
ya-kwanza/mzuri (are we destined to forever hyphenate this apes name?!!!) was the first gorilla born in the world via AI. his father was rigo.

if rigo was so extremely important genetically - then i wonder why he was never used to AI any of the melbourne troop ever again.
Click to expand...
His sperm count and/or motility (I can't remember which) was very low, and it was thought to be touch and go as to whether Yuska would get pregnant. Thankfully, she did. There was very little semen collected at the time, and there was none left in storage.

The procedure for collecting semen via electroejaculation in gorillas is a fairly invasive process, and results in considerable discomfort for some time after. It's not a procedure that would be done regularly, so if the chance of getting viable semen, in sufficient quantity is very low, that would be a strong consideration for not doing it again.
 
ZooPro said:
The procedure for collecting semen via electroejaculation in gorillas is a fairly invasive process, and results in considerable discomfort for some time after.
Click to expand...

ooooooouch! i can imagine....didn't think of that. best leave poor rigos bottom alone!:(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top