I haven't seen this. I do wonder why " Bobby" was chosen. Even amongst post WWII gorillas, "Reuben" (last incontrovertible Mountain Gorilla in the UK), "Tanga" (last Eastern Gorilla at London) or "Salome" (first gorilla born there) are rather more noteworthy individuals.
I believe their only other Mountain Gorilla was the short-lived Reuben in the early 1960s.
Mok and Moina were the original tenants of the still existing Roundhouse, which was ground-breaking Gorilla accommodation of the time.
Guy was the first Gorilla to do well and reach adulthood at Regent's Park (I would not count John Daniel, although if the Zoo had purchased him, he might have continued to thrive). They got through quite a few Gorillas before this breakthrough, not their fault as husbandry of the species was still in its infancy.
Mok and Moina were the original tenants of the still existing Roundhouse, which was ground-breaking Gorilla accommodation of the time.
Guy was the first Gorilla to do well and reach adulthood at Regent's Park .
Mok and Moina almost made it too. Moina was the older( I think) and possibly already sexually mature when she died. I have a postcard of 'Mok' and in that he's a large blackback already turning silver so about ten(?) years old at the least when he died.
I am not really sure of the provenance of 'Meng', or whether they were either. In the official studbook location its place of capture is listed as 'Zaire' and the species as 'Beringei', but so were some others including the two below, and they weren't. Meng arrived in August 1937, died September 1941.
The two Eastern lowlands were called Rundi(M) and 'Tanga' (F). They came together in July 1962. Rundi died in December 1962, Tanga in March 1963.
Reuben(he was known with certainty to be Beringei) arrived in May 1960, also died in December 1962.
I haven't seen this. I do wonder why " Bobby" was chosen. Even amongst post WWII gorillas, "Reuben" (last incontrovertible Mountain Gorilla in the UK), "Tanga" (last Eastern Gorilla at London) or "Salome" (first gorilla born there) are rather more noteworthy individuals.
Could you elaborate on that please Ian? I know little of Bobby's background other than he came from a circus and that he was a very stunted silverback.
Again, I'm aware of the fate of Guy and Bobby, but does anyone have a pocketed history of the others please?
Yes, I would have featured 'Salome' rather than 'Bobby'- historically speaking she completed the sequence- failures- success- breeding. Though if you featured all the failures/deaths/exchanges they have had since Guy it would be a pretty wide display.
Bobby had a better end to life than his start(in a circus) and middle eras(in Rome Zoo) but the hoped for happy ending of fatherhood remained just beyond reach.
Bobby's early years are rather obscure. He was wildcaught, probably in Guinea, and his year of birth is given in the SB as 1983. He was probably smuggled, and was kept in a Italian circus for several years where poor diet was probably the reason for his distinctly stunted body shape(short arms and legs, small body).
In 1992 (age nine?) he was acquired by Rome Zoo as a companion for their zoobred female 'Romina' ( the only Gorilla ever born there). Her father was named 'Bongo' so this one was named 'Bongo 2nd' (very original...). Romina and Bobby/Bongo 2 became/were the only Gorillas at the zoo, consequently with no group experience they were somewhat desocialised and lived in typical old fashioned dingy quarters/barred cages up until the time Rome parted with them. In 2001 the pair went to Bristol Zoo to replace two previous Gorillas that had died, and to join 'Salome( ex London/Chessington) who was living there alone.
After two years it was clear the change of scenery still meant Bongo wasn't going to breed with Romina( even with her sight restored) and he didn't seem to like Salome either. So they effected an exchange with London for their male 'Jock' as they were having problems with him too and a quieter male at ZSL seemed like a good idea to allow them to have a single group. So Bongo went to London and for some reason I never fathomed, now became 'Bobby'. He settled in there okay but as at Bristol, I don't think he showed much (any?) interest in the females, at least not until Mjuku arrived, which may have changed things according to what I heard. He was never able to prove whether he could father young though.
