Lowland gorillas in Europe 2011

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kiang said:
1.0 lowland gorilla "Kidogo" has moved from Givskud to Krefeld.

Krefeld: Neuer Affen-Chef im Zoo kommt aus Dänemark | RP ONLINE
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Krefeld have split their group of 1.4 into two.

The new male Kidogo (Samson x Minnie) is 11 years old and will go with Muna & Oya(22 & 23 years) in a bid to refresh breeding, though these females are rather old to have first time babies,:( but its still perfectly possible.

The 2nd trio will be Massa (former Breeding male but hasn't bred for some years now) and older females Boma & Tumba- retirement group. Massa & Boma are the parents of the current breeding males at Apenheul(Jambo) and Basel (Kisoro).
 
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Willard said:
It's the zoo in Belo Horizonte. The silverback is named Idi Amin.
Studbook: 1056 - IDI AMIN
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Thank You for correcting his name Head keeper at Howletts Lorna Wanless was telling me about how he has been living on his own for 27 years.
Although he is an old chap it will be nice to have imbi and Kifta to keep him company + hes aready mated a couple of times with Imbi :)

GB
 
In response to an old message about Zoezie from Kriba, dated 10-04-2011:

I just heard female Zoezie who was transferred from Apenheul to Barcelona zoo in November 2009 died on august 2010. Anybody knows what happened?

I also heard about this some time ago. Couldn't find anything about it on the internet though. Like others I also checked 'Gorilla's Gallore' (new website address http://www.dewarwildlife.org/jrdavis-gorilla-studbook/; the old site isn't up to date anymore) when I found out about the news, but they didn't mention it. Since the person who told me knows a lot about gorilla's in Europe I decided to e-mail the zoo and I did so on August 3 2011. The answer a few days later was:

Sadly, Zoezi passed away on August the 18th of 2010 due to a sudden peritonitis, only shown in several symptons like stomachache a few minutes before the decease. This peritonitis was caused by a kidney’s infectious disease, and althougt the veterinarians and keepers worked hard and fast to attend the animal, nothing could be done to recover her.

Of course, and as you may understand, a death of an animal its allways a shock for people working with them, but in Zoezi’s case, the shock was bigger as it was calm, sociable, and with a very nice mood. Moreover, she had a very fast and succesfull adaptation to our gorilla group.
 
Pippeloentje said:
Mambele/Josy has been transferred from Hannover Zoo to Antwerp Zoo on 22 August 2011 to live with Kumba (infertile) and two Eastern Lowland Gorilla females - Amahoro and Victoria. Let's hope this is a temporary measure.......
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This is something I still don't understand. I was told that her stay in Antwerp would be temporarily. It was meant to be some kind of 'social course' for a few years because of some of the problems in Hannover. One of them being the problem of raising kids and stillbirths. The strange thing for me was that they moved her to a zoo with only three adults: two females without any children and a man who is sterile. Why would they do that for a 'social course' in relation to the problems in Hannover? Why not put her in a big family group with experienced moms and young kids?

Because I'm a very curious person by nature, I searched on and I found a German newspaper article (dated 22 August) where they talk about the problems with Josy as a mother. The end of the article mentions that the zoo, in cooperation with the EEP, decided to take Josy completely out of the breeding program!!! They end with saying the gorilla's in Antwerp are her new family now. They don't mention anything about that being temporary …..

To be honest I don't know where I heard about the temporary thing. It's either on a (Dutch/Belgian) forum or even in the Antwerp zoo. When I was there, September 1 2011, there was some information on the window. But can't remember exactly what it was (why didn't I photograph it …). I believe it mentioned the temporarily status.

I'm planning on visiting again next week and I'll see if I can find someone who can tell me more.
 
CindyNL said:
The end of the article mentions that the zoo, in cooperation with the EEP, decided to take Josy completely out of the breeding program!!! They end with saying the gorilla's in Antwerp are her new family now. They don't mention anything about that being temporary …..
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Yes, I believe she was moved because she wouldn't rear offspring but they decided not to breed from her anymore, so moved her to a non-breeding situation(Antwerp) on a permanent basis.
 
GorillaBoy said:
Although he is an old chap it will be nice to have imbi and Kifta to keep him company + hes aready mated a couple of times with Imbi :)
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That is much better news than previously- there was a report they had to be seperated on their first introduction with waterhoses(?) because he was aggressive. Mating= acceptance.:)
 
Today I suddenly remembered where I read about the move being a 'social course' in stead of a permanent move: on the website of the Antwerp Zoo!!!

For those who speak/understand Dutch -> ZOO Antwerpen | Nieuws
For those who speak/understand French -> ZOO Antwerpen | Nouvelles
Unfortunately not in English.

In the article they talk of a 'social school'. They don't mention it being temporarily, but she won't be going to school for the rest of her life I think ;)

In the article they mention:
'Gorilla females Victoria and Amahoro and sterile male Kumba will help her to take on her social role as a mature woman in the gorilla society. In the hope that she will be a good mother herself in the future.'

So when that article was written, they (Antwerp) still had the idea Josy would be a mom herself at one point in her life. That's why I thought it was strange to move her to a group with no kids.

Still, I'm going to ask someone in Antwerp when I'm there. See what they have to say.
 
Pertinax said:
The new male Kidogo (Samson x Minnie) is 11 years old and will go with Muna & Oya(22 & 23 years) in a bid to refresh breeding, ...
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According to German news reports Kidogo will move to Krefeld next year in spring, probably at Easter. But we all know such announcements are not always reliable regarding the scheduled time.
 
Willard said:
According to German news reports Kidogo will move to Krefeld next year in spring, probably at Easter. But we all know such announcements are not always reliable regarding the scheduled time.
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I can't read German well so not sure what the Krefeld aricle about him actually says. Has the move already happened, or are they saying it is 'planned'?
 
CindyNL said:
So when that article was written, they (Antwerp) still had the idea Josy would be a mom herself at one point in her life. That's why I thought it was strange to move her to a group with no kids.
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Seems like someone had their wires crossed a bit. I don't know if Josy was well established socially in the Hanover group or not, so that there was an extra/different reason for moving her. She certainly wouldn't learn anything about maternal care at Antwerp.
 
Pertinax said:
I can't read German well so not sure what the Krefeld article about him actually says. Has the move already happened, or are they saying it is 'planned'?
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Well as I said, "Kidogo will move to Krefeld next year in spring", so the move hasn't happened yet. Currently Krefeld is revamping/rebuilding their indoor enclosure which is supposed to be finished around Jan or Feb. (Cited from Krefeld: Neuer Affen-Chef im Zoo kommt aus Dänemark | RP ONLINE) Another article says the transfer is planned for Easter. The zoo says they are very happy with the studbook's recommendation (sic!) for Kidogo as he comes from a large family, has a lot of experience with younger siblings and has learnt gorilla etiquette. He is the first gorilla born in Givskud, his name means "Little (or Small) one".
Not sure if I or someone else mentioned that before: Kidogo is meant to be the new silverback of a breeding group, as silverback Massa has proven to be infertile. Massa will be leading the "retirement" group together with older females Boma and Tumba.

Here is the link to my Gorilla Family - Krefeld (Version 2) | Flickr - Photo Sharing! family tree.
 
Kidogo (Givskud --> Krefeld)

After Kidogo's arrival the tree will look like this, with Massa's group on top and Kidogo's on bottom. (Only the six gorillas in the middle are zoo residents.)
 

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Willard said:
Kidogo is meant to be the new silverback of a breeding group, as silverback Massa has proven to be infertile. Massa will be leading the "retirement" group together with older females Boma and Tumba.
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Thanks for explaining it, so Kidogo will come to Krefeld in a few months' time. With his good social background he is bound to be a good breeding male. But as I mentioned above, at 22 & 23 years old, the 'breeding' females Muna & Oya are rather old to begin breeding now, but its still perfectly possible.
 
Imbi & Kifta in Brazil

GorillaBoy said:
Although he is an old chap it will be nice to have imbi and Kifta to keep him company + hes aready mated a couple of times with Imbi :)GB
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I've checked some news articles today, and Howlett's Imbi & Kifta seem to be doing fine in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. As GorillaBoy said, Imbi and Idi have already mated. Here is my rough translation of the main parts of one article (October 1): "At first Idi made clear that he is dominant, then showed protective behavior towards the females, and finally he mated with Imbi twice. We were very surprised as Idi did not have any contact with other gorillas for a long time, and were afraid he might have lost his memories of how to live together and how to reproduce. Idi also made some sounds (vocalisations) the keepers had never heard since he arrived in 1975." - Well, I bet he did!

Here is my Belo Horizonte family tree: Gorilla Family - Belo Horizonte | Flickr - Photo Sharing! The tree itself is quite boring, but the description might be of some interest - I put together some facts about Idi Amin's life up to now. 27 years alone with himself, can you imagine?

Willard
 
Willard said:
We were very surprised as Idi did not have any contact with other gorillas for a long time, and were afraid he might have lost his memories of how to live together and how to reproduce.
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There's certainly hope that 'Idi' could father offspring, provided he is still fertile. This is rather similar to the story of 'Willie B' the lone male at Atlanta Zoo, USA. in the 1980's. He had lived alone a similar length of time but had never even seen another Gorilla since being brought into captivity. But provided with females late in his life(from the Yerkes Primate centre, when all their Gorillas were moved to new enclosures at the Zoo) he became a productive breeder. Similarly 'Ivan' the male who had lived alone for many years in a US shopping mall. He was eventually moved to Atlanta too, after his(private) owners finally agree to let him go. Ivan's story didn't have quite the same happy outcome as Willie B's though- he seemed to have been more 'damaged' by his long solitary life though he did eventually mate a female too- but with no result.
 
Nisha said:
This move is now on hold until Spring 2012 due Moja being unwell around the time of the transfer and an imminent baby at Praha....
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They somehow have got the age of one of the females already at Cabarceno wrong. Chelewa(born at Basel), is 6, not 51(!)- maybe they meant 5 and a half?- so Moja will have a similar-aged companion when she does move.
 
Short news from Prague: Bikira gave birth few hours ago. Sadly no maternal instincts so far. They took the baby, will try to give it to her "in the bedrooms", fingers crossed :(

Edit: It should be a boy. What is it with Richard and his brothers having almost only sons?!
 
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docend24 said:
Short news from Prague: Bikira gave birth few hours ago. Sadly no maternal instincts so far. They took the baby, will try to give it to her "in the bedrooms", fingers crossed :(
Edit: It should be a boy. What is it with Richard and his brothers having almost only sons?!
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Interesting she has not bonded with it. She was handraised and then spent much of her adult life in Belfast's group where no babies have been born in the last ten years(and no baby has ever been mother-raised) so has never observed/practised maternal behaviour, at least until this last year in the Prague group.
 
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