Mountain Gorilla
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Antwerp holds two wild-caught females, whose origin has been a much debated topic over zooforums. Many people believe that one of them belongs to the subspecies Graueri (eastern lowland gorilla) and one is actually a Beringei. If you look at pictures then it could be true, but some reckon the other female is also a Graueri.
Zootierliste has chosen to list them as 0.1 Graueri and 0.1 Beringei, I'm not completely sure why.
The consensus is that both females are no western lowland gorilla's though. If you search ZooChat there's bound to be more info then this somewhere...
Purely informative; they are kept together with a western lowland gorilla male who is infertile and are in a phase-out situation.
Zootierliste has chosen to list them as 0.1 Graueri and 0.1 Beringei, I'm not completely sure why.
The consensus is that both females are no western lowland gorilla's though. If you search ZooChat there's bound to be more info then this somewhere...
Purely informative; they are kept together with a western lowland gorilla male who is infertile and are in a phase-out situation.
I do not believe she is a true 'Beringei' Mountain Gorilla. From the many photos I've seen her appearance isn't right- she lacks the more rounded face and long shaggy hair (despite her coat is in good condition) of a true 'Beringei' female.
I think she is either a 'Graueri' or from the Bwindi Forest sub-population of Mountain Gorillas, which appear to be intermediate in their characteristics between Beringei and Graueri.
The other female 'Victoria' was born at Antwerp, from known 'Graueri' parents, so there is no doubt about her origin/provenance.
The images I have seen, she has a massive nasal cavity. Now that is what a mountain gorilla has for high altitudes. So I think she is a mountain gorilla.
I saw the two 'Beringei' females(Coco & Pucker) at Cologne Zoo in the early 1970's. There was no mistaking their thick woolly coats and the ruffs of long hair surrounding their faces. This female has none of that.
ISIS shows that Antwerp list both females as B.b. graueri. Surely if they held the only pure Mountain gorilla in captivity they would recognise it on such sites? Has anyone on here visited the zoo and know what signage they give on the exhibit? Also could anyone tell me if DNA tests would show genetic differences between these species mentioned? (Not saying this should be done, just wondering?). Thanks.
I think they are not sure what she really is.
I don't know if DNa tests have been done, or if they could prove which species/subspecies she really belongs to. I would still maintain she isn't a 'true' 'Beringei' though it would be interesting to know exactly how she came into captivity, and from what area.
I am not saying your wrong, it is just the nasal cavity is massive and @ Hix All my knowledge on mountain animals they have to have large nasal cavities to get as much oxygen as possible
From a 1996 scientific paper "Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Gorillas" by KAREN J. GARNER AND OLIVER A. RYDER, printed in MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
Vol. 6, No. 1, August, pp. 39–48, 1996; the final paragraph reads:
"DNA sequence information may also be useful for subspecies identification of individual captive gorillas. Recently this D-loop hypervariable sequence was used to determine the subspecies identity of an infant female confiscated from traffickers in Za¨ıre. The sequence obtained from DNA isolated from shed hairs was identical to that of one of the eastern lowland gorillasfrom Kahuzi-Biega Preserve. A decision was made not to attempt to ‘‘repatriate’’ this individual to a wild eastern lowland gorilla group for several reasons. Social factors would make successful introduction into an existing wild group unlikely. In addition, the potential for disease transmission to wild gorillas. Introduction into a habituated group under observation would have disrupted long-term behavioral studies. The gorilla has been moved to the Antwerp Zoo, which has the only captive population of G. g. graueri. At this facility, the capability exists to gradually introduce this individual to the captive group."
The female mentioned in this paragraph is certainly Amahoro. And so according to this research, Amahoro is certainly graueri (note that when this paper was published, Gorillas were still classified as one species with three subspecies), coming from Kahuzi Biega. The other graueris at Antwerp originated from Walikali / Walikale region.
For general interest: here is the abstract of this publication:
"A highly variable portion of the mitochondrial DNAcontrol region was sequenced in 63 free-living and captive gorillas including representatives of the three recognized subspecies. This region has proven useful for evaluation of relative levels of genetic variability in populations, for clarification of the subspecies identity of a wild population, and for examination of the phylogenetic relationships of the three subspecies. The eastern lowland (Gorilla gorilla graueri) and mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) sequences are distinct but closely related, with low variability within each subspecies. Two currently isolated populations of mountain gorillas, one in the Virungas Volcanoes region and the other in the Bwindi Forest, are indistinguishable using this mitochondrial DNA region for comparison. The subspecies identity of the Bwindi Forest group has previously been debated. Mitochondrial D-loop DNA variability within the western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is very high. The genetic distance between the most divergent gorilla sequences is approximately as great as the distance be tween sequences of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos(Pan paniscus)."
Vol. 6, No. 1, August, pp. 39–48, 1996; the final paragraph reads:
"DNA sequence information may also be useful for subspecies identification of individual captive gorillas. Recently this D-loop hypervariable sequence was used to determine the subspecies identity of an infant female confiscated from traffickers in Za¨ıre. The sequence obtained from DNA isolated from shed hairs was identical to that of one of the eastern lowland gorillasfrom Kahuzi-Biega Preserve. A decision was made not to attempt to ‘‘repatriate’’ this individual to a wild eastern lowland gorilla group for several reasons. Social factors would make successful introduction into an existing wild group unlikely. In addition, the potential for disease transmission to wild gorillas. Introduction into a habituated group under observation would have disrupted long-term behavioral studies. The gorilla has been moved to the Antwerp Zoo, which has the only captive population of G. g. graueri. At this facility, the capability exists to gradually introduce this individual to the captive group."
The female mentioned in this paragraph is certainly Amahoro. And so according to this research, Amahoro is certainly graueri (note that when this paper was published, Gorillas were still classified as one species with three subspecies), coming from Kahuzi Biega. The other graueris at Antwerp originated from Walikali / Walikale region.
For general interest: here is the abstract of this publication:
"A highly variable portion of the mitochondrial DNAcontrol region was sequenced in 63 free-living and captive gorillas including representatives of the three recognized subspecies. This region has proven useful for evaluation of relative levels of genetic variability in populations, for clarification of the subspecies identity of a wild population, and for examination of the phylogenetic relationships of the three subspecies. The eastern lowland (Gorilla gorilla graueri) and mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) sequences are distinct but closely related, with low variability within each subspecies. Two currently isolated populations of mountain gorillas, one in the Virungas Volcanoes region and the other in the Bwindi Forest, are indistinguishable using this mitochondrial DNA region for comparison. The subspecies identity of the Bwindi Forest group has previously been debated. Mitochondrial D-loop DNA variability within the western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is very high. The genetic distance between the most divergent gorilla sequences is approximately as great as the distance be tween sequences of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos(Pan paniscus)."
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There have been several gorilla genetics studies done since the 1996 paper. I'm not sure what the current state of gorilla genetics is, but I think that there is an ongoing study at the San Diego Zoo's genetics program.
Here is a summary of gorilla genetics studies and the implications for taxonomy. Unfortunately I'm not sure where the citations are as there are only numbers indicating citations in a footnote section:
Genetics
DNA may be able to resolve the mystery of the gorilla identities in question. Ollie Ryder, the geneticist at the San Diego Zoo, would likely be the best person to ask about this.
Here is a summary of gorilla genetics studies and the implications for taxonomy. Unfortunately I'm not sure where the citations are as there are only numbers indicating citations in a footnote section:
Genetics
DNA may be able to resolve the mystery of the gorilla identities in question. Ollie Ryder, the geneticist at the San Diego Zoo, would likely be the best person to ask about this.