UK Gorilla update..

docend24 said:
For some reason there is no option to edit my own posts, otherwise I would keep it in one post and just updating.
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You should be able to...

Interesting how calm all the Gorillas are, though Bikira is naturally tense. Will you video again when she first meets Richard/the group without the bars division?
 
Bikira acts humanwise by standing bipedally? It makes a strange gesture towards the other gorillas.
 
The females have tense lips but not Richard, he just looks interested in her..

Bikira makes a sort of token gesture at him with her arm- a little 'keep- off' signal?
 
Pertinax said:
You should be able to...

Interesting how calm all the Gorillas are, though Bikira is naturally tense. Will you video again when she first meets Richard/the group without the bars division?
Click to expand...
Now there is an edit button, but wasn't before...

I will as long as it would be published somewhere.
 
(again no edit button)

Bikira is in the main exposition today. Alone. Introducing should take place tomorrow, she seems to be quite confident so it could go a bit wildly. Fingers crossed.
 
Pertinax said:
How is it done? Do just Richard & Bikira meet first, or the whole group at once?
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Whole group. They have already met separated by bars, Richard was calm and bit curious, but Shinda tried to dominate. Well, Bikira climb on ropes and stood up looking down on them, pretty dominant behaviour too. Funny fact: both younger babies was held by Kamba (riding on her back) instead being with their mother Kijivu during that first meeting. And "teenager" Moja (female, 6 this month) suddenly acted like she is little once again:)

From what I gathered Shinda and Richard allegedly mated this morning , i don't know whether that could be a relevant factor for tomorrow meeting or not.
 
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Forgot to add Jitu has been replaced by a new male Named Bukavu Jitu is now at Valencia Bioparc in a batchellor group.
Regards Jordan.
 
docend24 said:
From what I gathered Shinda and Richard allegedly mated this morning , i don't know whether that could be a relevant factor for tomorrow meeting or not.
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Is it true Shinda cannot breed because she has a contraceptive implant still in her from when she was in Apenheul?
 
Pertinax said:
Is it true Shinda cannot breed because she has a contraceptive implant still in her from when she was in Apenheul?
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To my understanding it was never found but test shows it is not working anymore yet it has deranged her hormones. I addition she tends to get overweight (she is a night feeder when having a chance to do so) and they put her on diet some time ago. I am not really sure what current state is and what is causing it but although she mates with Richard her concieving is most probably a lost case :(
 
Thanks for the information. Not Gorillas but how is Padang, the male Sumatran Orangutan from Chester doing, and have female Mawar and her son from Jersey arrived at Prague yet?

I hope the Gorillas get on okay together tomorrow.:)
 
Pertinax said:
Thanks for the information. Not Gorillas but how is Padang, the male Sumatran Orangutan from Chester doing, and have female Mawar and her son from Jersey arrived at Prague yet?

I hope the Gorillas get on okay together tomorrow.:)
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Padang is looking good. The exchange of females with Jersey is yet to happen.
 
Good video. What a din... Bikira cowers on the floor for protection when the others pile in around her. But she seems to hold her own okay one to one. One female (Kijivu?) seems particularly interested. Richard hurls his ball at her too!

Now it remains for Bikira to establish a place in the group and hopefully breed too.
 
I didn't catch the main events live. Someone has taped a lot of videos and keeps posting them here fananek | seznam alb ? rajce.net
Short clip of the worst showdown (already posted) http://video.idnes.cz/?idvideo=V101207_162934_tv-zpravy_krr
More videos from different sources: http://hobby.idnes.cz/gorily-v-zoo.asp?typ=rajce
Photos - http://hobby.idnes.cz/foto.asp?r=gorily-v-zoo&c=A101206_120224_gorily-v-zoo_mce (bit older)
http://hobby.idnes.cz/foto.asp?r=gorily-v-zoo&c=A101208_034421_gorily-v-zoo_mce (newer with group)

Look like adult females secured their positions to some extent and situatons tends to be calmer but there is always Moja (6) "teenager" troublemaker who has been starting new conflicts trying to have better position than Bikira knowing her family would ack her up if a fight would break out. Richard has protected Bikira at times, the zoo is pleasantly surprised by his behaviour (last time when Kamba was added she at first chose her defence to be running at Richard who kept retreating from her).
Hopefully the worst is over. Bikira has tended to stay in part of exhibit close to the keepers.
 
Do you know why they didn't place her just with Richard for a period first so they could establish an alliance/relationship? He might have given her more protection from the group in that case. He seemed to attack her along with the females.

Or did they decide that it was better just to get a full introduction over with quickly? As you say, the worst is probably over now.
 
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They decided to introduce Bikira to the whole group probably because of two reasons. For the fisrt to have the introduction as quickly as possible over, and for the second a split of the group (for example Richard apart / females + youngs) would lead to a quite big stress because the group is not used to be splited (only just for a few minutes during feeding etc. but not for hours or even days).

I think the introduction went relativelly OK. All violent physical contacts were over after only 2 hours and Bikira came from it only with 1-2 biting wounds, nothing serious. Richard had 1-2 moments when he was pretending to attack her (without hurting her actually), but most of the time he was activelly protecting her against other females, and Bikira realised it and tried to be always near to him.
 
Jana said:
. Richard had 1-2 moments when he was pretending to attack her (without hurting her actually), but most of the time he was activelly protecting her against other females, and Bikira realised it and tried to be always near to him.
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Thanks for the explanation about why the 'whole group' intro-style was chosen. I know these attacks usually sound much worse than they are because of the screaming too.
 
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