Twycross Zoo Matadi & Bolus Update thread
- Thread starter tomzoo123
- Start date
Thats great news about Matadi being introduced to Biddy and Bongo. Have they taken well to him? Will they introduce Bolus to that group of three and see how it goes. hopefully though with Bolus being OK with the young ones at his current home he should be OK with Matadi. The enclosure that they will be in could do with some vegetation planting I think. I know they wont but that enclosure would be great if they knocked down the wall between Joe's old part and Biddy and Bongos, Landscaped it a bit and planted some stuff in there.
His name is BOULAS (Bitam x Mouila)
There aren't any 'young ones' at Belfast now but he did get on well with the younger male 'Gugas' when he was similar aged to 'Matadi' and he does have better group experience than 'Oumbi, is also somewhat older so likely to be more tolerant in general.
We can only presume Boulas' move will not be cancelled now, but they may delay it until they are happy the two females have adopted 'Matadi' -so they will defend him if the need arises.
josh_08
Well-Known Member
Wow, may be pregnant already. If that's true it was quick! If they do both turn out to be pregnant, would they still keep Oumbi there at Twycross until after the births so he might mate with them again?
taun
Well-Known Member
Depends, on whether they want to build the group up. And if they had males offspring then there would be no need to move him on.
I'm not surprised Oumbi has already mated with Ozala as she was behaving as if she was infatuated with him. Things might be slower with Asante as she was handraised and so is not so well socialised as Ozala.
Oumbi is almost certainly on 'permanent loan' to Twycross.
The newspaper article is interesting news but makes cringemaking reading..
Oumbi is almost certainly on 'permanent loan' to Twycross.
The newspaper article is interesting news but makes cringemaking reading..
taun
Well-Known Member
The newspaper article is interesting news but makes cringemaking reading..
Agree there, but the first photo of him is the best shot I have seen of him.
taun
Well-Known Member
That's a professional news photographer for you.
In the 2nd pic see how Ozala is sitting watching him, that is exactly how they were behaving when I went.
Still a fantastic shot.
I did, hopefully she is pregnant.
Hi, how come if they had male offspring would oumbie stay? Would you be able to explain please? I know it sounds like im being stupid here but im really interested in this sort of thing.
taun
Well-Known Member
Male offspring will be ousted from the group when they become too big, therefore Oumbi will then be able to breed with the females again thus, no need to move him on.
Obviously with female offspring there is a chance of inbreeding so depending on the studbook recommendations he may be moved on or the female offspring would be moved on.
Id hope that Oumbi would stay at Twycross and that they'd move the female offspring on, especially if he was proven to have genetically valuable offspring with the two females.
taun
Well-Known Member
All this is just possible options first they need to have breeding take place in the group.
As Pertinax has pointed out Oumbi is most likely to be on permanent loan, so no need to panic and worry about him leaving anytime soon.
Both Oumbi's parents(Bitam x Mouila) are well represented within the Howletts Gorilla groups- but not outside in the UK generally. Asante has no relatives on her wildcaught mother's side, Ozala has one brother(Mambi) and one offspring(Matadi) so overall they're not well represented.
If there are babies born in this group, it would be some years before any decisions had to be made regarding moving them around. Although Oumbi rejected Matadi, he's quite likely to be more tolerant of his own offspring, either sex. Djala at Port Lympne has two sons aged 10 still living happily with him in his group(or they were till recently) and the small Dublin group (enclosure no bigger than Twycross) contains the silverback with three sons(10 & 6 & 3) living with him.
karenZOO
Well-Known Member
Good news things are starting to go well at Twycross 
I have felt when I have visited for last few years that it has just been 'stagnating' (no offence meant) but not a lot was happening to improve and develop the zoo!
Now with the improvements with the elephant enclosure and other planned and started improvements it really seems to be developing although still not sure of the direction! I would have loved for them to have instead of the snow leopard they had chosen to build a naturalistic primate enclosure.
Will look forward to the hopefully new arrivals and their gorilla problems are over
I have felt when I have visited for last few years that it has just been 'stagnating' (no offence meant) but not a lot was happening to improve and develop the zoo!Now with the improvements with the elephant enclosure and other planned and started improvements it really seems to be developing although still not sure of the direction! I would have loved for them to have instead of the snow leopard they had chosen to build a naturalistic primate enclosure.
Will look forward to the hopefully new arrivals and their gorilla problems are over
When its finished visitors will be able to compare the two entirely different styles of zoo architecture now increasingly being displayed at Twycross.
Gigit
Well-Known Member
Try 'BOULAS' in the Belfast Gallery.