Lowland gorillas in Europe 2011

[john]

Try again after some more years. See the results in the Artis group - Dafina, Shindy.

 

[Pertinax]

Updates.

Salome's new baby at Bristol Zoo (born 27th September) is male (name;Kukena)

Female baby recently born at Port Lympne(Djala x Kwishi)- no other details.

Young (7 years) female 'Moja' has now moved from Prague to Cabarceno. Bikira's male baby is now being handraised at Stuttgart.

Does anyone know what is happening with silverback 'Awali' at Barcelona?
Is he still there or has he moved- and if so where to? I believe he is being replaced as he's no good as a breeder -so presume they will not keep him on.

 

[Willard]

Thanks for the Bristol update!

The unnamed female baby at PL was born before May 13, probably in early May (according to a couple of news articles found with Google). She is the 130th gorilla born at the Aspinall Foundation's two wildlife parks - Port Lympne and Howletts - in just over 35 years. Photo: Animal pictures of the week: 13 May 2011 - Telegraph

Bikira's baby was named Tano ("the fifth" in Swahili - he is the fifth gorilla born in Prague Zoo). See the zoo's blog for some photos and short videos (in German): Gorillakinder - Wilhelma

Moja seems to be doing fine in Cabárceno, Spain. She was introduced to the family and is being accepted by silverback Niky, although he has to intervene in order to prevent Chelewa, another female, from attacking Moja - she beats her with tree branches! But Moja is not intimidated, she does socialize and keeps close to Niky - it seems she might even become his favorite companion. Time will tell. See the discussion at Moja is together with Niky, Nadia and Chelewa VIDEO (+beautiful set dedicated to Moja from Tina) | Flickr - Photo Sharing! for new photos and videos from Cabárceno.

 

[Pertinax]

Moja is together with Niky, Nadia and Chelewa VIDEO (+beautiful set dedicated to Moja from Tina) | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/url] for new photos and videos from Cabárceno.

They have got Moja into the Cabarceno group very quickly. The Silverback 'Niky' seems very calm, possibly due to his age(he's 24), but although he defends her from Chelewa he seems not that excited by this new arrival, he is not displaying at her or looking interested/excited by her- is he a 'normal' male i.e. does he mate any of the females? Moja seems not too frightened of Chelewa's attentions, presumably Moja is from a 'dominant' line so quite a confident animal. Nadia looks uninterested- she is a 'plucker' by the look of it.

I also saw the Prague videos of Richard and the group after Moja is seperated. Richard is obviously very agitated- hooting and vocalising which they do when there's a 'split' like this, as he's a good protective group leader. He is still as slim as when he arrived at Prague a number of year ago and has not added any weight, even before the stress of this event. Gorillas with hands/fists on ears(like Kijivu) is always a sign of stress too ('shutting out the world'?)

I'm wondering if Tatu has suddenly become attatched to Bikira in this way because he is insecure after the removal of Moja, or was that just a coincidence? Bikira carrying him around on her back like this it may also help her fuller acceptance in the group too.

 

[kiang]

1.1 lowland gorilla are moving to Liberec zoo from Dvur Kralove, whilst their enclosure is being upgraded.

http://zpravy.idnes.cz/do-liberecke...maci.aspx?c=A111121_150537_liberec-zpravy_oks

 

[Messy]

They have got Moja into the Cabarceno group very quickly. The Silverback 'Niky' seems very calm, possibly due to his age(he's 24), but although he defends her from Chelewa he seems not that excited by this new arrival, he is not displaying at her or looking interested/excited by her- is he a 'normal' male i.e. does he mate any of the females?

There's a good article on the Czech "Helping Gorillas" site about the history of the various gorillas including Nicky :
http://hobby.idnes.cz/partner-goril...-v-zoo.aspx?c=A111206_220759_gorily-v-zoo_mce

Nicky has been mating Chelewa. There has been some speculation that she may already be pregnant.

 

[Pertinax]

There's a good article on the Czech "Helping Gorillas" site about the history of the various gorillas including Nicky :
http://hobby.idnes.cz/partner-goril...-v-zoo.aspx?c=A111206_220759_gorily-v-zoo_mce

Nicky has been mating Chelewa. There has been some speculation that she may already be pregnant.

Thanks for the links. It seems Moja is pretty much integrated into the group already and has even been playing with Chelewa too. The videos show this introduction at Cabarceno was a lot less dramatic than when Bikira joined the Prague group- probably because its a smaller group and only the young Chelewa seemed very interested in Moja, whereas at Prague, Bikira joined a group with several adult and established females.

Good news that Niky already mates with Chelewa. Hopefully he will mate Moja when she starts to cycle after her contraception wears off too. From his history it seems 'Niky' had a humanised/handraised background- since when 'Nadia' became a sort of surrogate mother to him, rather than a breeding partner. It says he sucks his thumb sometimes under stress- that is also a trait of some handraised males( I have never known a mother-reared Gorilla to do that) and he seems generally to be a docile/gentle male- but breeding with the two young females does seem very possible now.

Lisbon news- It appears(info from Flickr photos) that Anguka in Lisbon Zoo is pregnant again currently.

 

[docend24]

Well, Prague zoo director said Chelewa IS pregnant and that was one of the reasons why they rushed the transport.

Introduction phase seems to be over Pomáhame gorilám facebook page even has a picture of Moja taking a nap on Chelewa's tummy among picture of hugging, mutual clening of hair etc. And a nice video of first steps outside and Chelewa's curiosity whether Moja is really eating grass and branches ("old" Cabarceno gorillas doesn't; Nadia even doesn't dare to go outside).

 

[Pertinax]

Well, Prague zoo director said Chelewa IS pregnant and that was one of the reasons why they rushed the transport.

Nadia even doesn't dare to go outside).

That is good news but she is very young- only six years on 31st December. Was this so that they could settle them down and not risk Chelewa getting too upset in more advanced pregnancy?

I think because these are two young females of similar age they have settled together much more quickly than adults would, and a friendship has blossomed.

'Old Gorillas won't learn new tricks'...

 

[docend24]

Possibly and to have things settled down soon enough in advance, nobody could counted on such a quick and smooth welcome. Surely smooth introduction not be as possible once healthy baby would be born. And you never know whether more delays occur...

Supposedly Nadia is more alert towards keepers and don't trust them as much as others. She may be bering some bad memories as a wild caught animal.

Chelewa albeit younger tahn Moja looks more robust and bulkier, especially her abdomen... The group seems to be set very well, two young bonded females, WC calm male (and non ambitious aging female), good to see Matze's granddaughter finding such a group, their brothers and cousins (all male so far) may not have such a chance as they are so many relatives.

 

[Pertinax]

Supposedly Nadia is more alert towards keepers and don't trust them as much as others. She may be bering some bad memories as a wild caught animal.

The female 'Nandi' that used to be at Jersey was similar. She was also wildcaught and arrived aged about 2, with a big Panga scar on her head- she was always suspicious and aloof with people, whereas the other female N'Pongo, although also wildcaught, was handraised from a very small baby and so was tame and confident with people. The male Jambo definately preferred Nandi though, as the humanised Npongo lacked proper Gorilla etiquette and didn't know how to show respect to him.

I agree Cabarceno have a good set-up now.

 

[Jordan-Jaguar97]

Female baby recently born at Port Lympne(Djala x Kwishi)- no other details.

The female has been named Akou.

 

[Pertinax]

There's a good article on the Czech "Helping Gorillas" site about the history of the various gorillas including Nicky :
http://hobby.idnes.cz/partner-goril...-v-zoo.aspx?c=A111206_220759_gorily-v-zoo_mce

Nicky has been mating Chelewa. There has been some speculation that she may already be pregnant.

The photos on this link are interesting. There is one of Niky mating with Chelewa(and sucking his thumb also). Its interesting that Chelewa's own mother Wima also became pregnant with her at Basel at a young age too, aged six,(as was the father Viatu) but was still able to rear her. I think Chelewa is likely to do the same.

The outdoor enclosure at Cabarceno looks absolutely ENORMOUS- one of the largest I've ever seen, and the Gorillas look like little dots in it.

 

[Willard]

The outdoor enclosure at Cabarceno looks absolutely ENORMOUS- one of the largest I've ever seen, and the Gorillas look like little dots in it.

According to Wikipedia it is the largest safari park in Europe, covering an area of 750 ha in total. Here is a photo of the outdoor enclosure: http://aa.ecn.cz/img_upload/e6ffb6c50bc1424ab10ecf09e063cd63/05_Cabarceno_gorila.jpg with, indeed, a little dot of a silverback.



{Note from mods - this thread continues here: Lowland gorillas in Europe 2012}