@David Matos Mendes I never knew this enclosure once held gorillas (to be honest I never knew that SP zoo had kept this species), that is interesting, glad it no longer does though and holds a native / endemic species.
@Onychorhynchus coronatus The zoo of São Paulo held a single male gorilla called "Virgulino" for many years. He died in 2005. Actually, there used to be a female called "Cleópatra" living there too, untill 1985. She and "Virgulino" didn't get along very well, so she was sent to BH to be with "Idi"
For what I know, this exhibit held a single yellow baboon from 2005 on, untill the baboon died of old age. Then the muriquis arrived at the zoo a few years ago and were housed there.
@Onychorhynchus coronatus We have three similar gorilla stories in Latin America for what I know. The one in SP, the one in MX city and "Idi" in BH, wich I think was the one that lived alone for longer time...
@David Matos Mendes Yes, thats right, he was to be transferred to Guadalajara to breed with the two females they have there (the last remaining gorillas in Mexico today) but he sadly died when he was under anesthesia.
This is a very common problem for gorillas in particular and a lot of them seem to die of cardiac arrest when put under anesthesia.
@David Matos Mendes Yes, I think Idi would probably have been alone longest.
Bantu was actually a suprise birth as his parents were two elderly gorillas who had been retired from a US zoo and sent to Chapultepec zoo in Mexico as ironically they were not believed to be reproductively viable. He lived a number of years with his parents until these passed away and then was alone until a female named Arila from Zacango zoo in Mexico (who has also sadly died in the last couple of years) was introduced to him.
Unfortunately he really didn't seem to like Arila and was consistently aggressive towards her and this led to them having to be kept in separate enclosures and the mix ultimately didn't work. I'm not sure if the introduction to the females at Guadalajara zoo would have gone well either as Bantu was sort of a loner (he did love his keeper though).
