ZSL London Zoo London zoos Gorllias updates
- Thread starter MARK
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Yes they are all together, and Zaire who was plucking her head (almost certainly due to stress) is looking much better.
Alan
The arrival of the young female Mjuku from Chessington in the spring seemed to solve the previous problems among the others. She was integrated very quickly, and all four have been together since. As mentioned, Zaire has completely stopped plucking herself and has a perfect coat again. They do seem to seperate Zaire off when they are indoors though.
taun
Well-Known Member
Bobby is know too have a low sperm count, however this is apparently common with captive male gorillas.
Glad they have managed to intergrate them.
zoogiraffe
Well-Known Member
ZSL are planning to breed these gorillas, so shouldnt they have provided more space for future offspring / gorillas from other zoos when they built Gorilla Kingdom?
taun
Well-Known Member
Zoogiraffe stated that he didn't think it would hold many more. London probably have in mind just to keep a few breeding females & off spring. Males born will be shiped out and if the group of females got to big, am sure they could split the group.
I think that the ZSL reckon that only Mjuku and Effie are likely to breed, assuming that Bobby is capable, so that if everything works perfectly, they could have babies next year and then again in 2012 or 2013 (it could be sooner if any babies need to hand-reared).
I'm sure the enclosure and indoor housing would be quite satisfactory for four adults, two infants and two juveniles until at least 2016, when the first babies would reach the age of 6 or 7. That will give them plenty of time to make decisions about the future of the animals concerned.
Alan
I'm sure the enclosure and indoor housing would be quite satisfactory for four adults, two infants and two juveniles until at least 2016, when the first babies would reach the age of 6 or 7. That will give them plenty of time to make decisions about the future of the animals concerned.
Alan
This seems to be a re-occurring problem with some zoos (and ZSL are repeat offenders). If you are going to build a new wizz-bang exhibit - build it big enough for the animals to expand into. Sounds like ZSL wanted to just have a new beautiful 'display' of gorillas (though I'm sure the primate keepers would disagree...) and not interested in providing the suitable space for a big troop.
The size of the ZSL group is effectively governed by the size of the 'dayroom'(and offshow night dens) - I heard that it was designed for '5 adults' (or 4 adults + a couple of offspring). I say the 'dayroom' because this is where the animals will presumably spend more time in the winter months and in very bad weather, and they need to be able to space themselves out. The outdoor island would easily hold more but of course they can't be out there all the time. I think Gentle Lemur's estimate of the future group size(if they breed that is) is spot on- 4 adults + up to 4 offspring.
Where zoos like London & Bristol have a problem is in the ratio of indoor/outdoor housing- they create these very large open outdoor areas the animals prefer not to use (London's are SHUT outside during the day, Bristol's aren't), contrasting with much smaller indoor exhibit areas (because of the building costs) that can only house a limited number of animals but its the smaller indoor areas that govern the group's size. Bristol, for example, couldn't really add even one more female to their group because the indoor area isn't big enough. In London's case I doubt if any more females will be added at present- they will be focusing on producing young from the settled group they have now. And if we don't hear on the grapevine of pregnancies to either Mjuku or Effie(or preferably both) fairly soon now, then we will know there is a problem with Bobby/Bongo.
Where zoos like London & Bristol have a problem is in the ratio of indoor/outdoor housing- they create these very large open outdoor areas the animals prefer not to use (London's are SHUT outside during the day, Bristol's aren't), contrasting with much smaller indoor exhibit areas (because of the building costs) that can only house a limited number of animals but its the smaller indoor areas that govern the group's size. Bristol, for example, couldn't really add even one more female to their group because the indoor area isn't big enough. In London's case I doubt if any more females will be added at present- they will be focusing on producing young from the settled group they have now. And if we don't hear on the grapevine of pregnancies to either Mjuku or Effie(or preferably both) fairly soon now, then we will know there is a problem with Bobby/Bongo.
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Okay, was it poor weather? They were definately shut outside when I was there in June.
Did you see any of them using the outside enclosure on Saturday?