Although it says before this birth 'Rebecca' had two previous miscarriages by Viatu, she has previously been Frankfurt's most successful and experienced breeding female in recent years, with 7 offspring to her name, all sired by the previous silveback 'Matz'. One of them is the male 'Damisi' at Chessington,UK. and another is silverback 'Akili' at Artis Zoo in Holland.
I don't know about Damisi, but Akili has served as a role model silverback so far, being both a good leader and very gentle with his children; he likes to play a lot with his sons. Sometimes, however, he "steals" a baby - causing huge excitement and loud shouting of course - but does give it back to their mother after a while.![]()
According to the news he untangled rope in smaller room inside pavilion and wrapped it around his neck while playing. Tragically he hang himself.
Especially for silverback Richard it was a real shock, as well his reaction on Tatu´s death today was extreme.
A loss like that is a big shock for the whole group. Many years ago at Jersey Zoo, the male infant Motaba got his head stuck in the ceiling bars of the indoor area. Amid the general panic of the group his mother 'Nandi' was frantically pulling down at her offspring and in danger of seriously hurting it, but the clever father 'Jambo' intervened-he supported the baby while sliding him along to a place where the bars were fractionally wider and his head could slip back through. So the baby was unhurt. I think Jambo deserved a medal for that-more so than for 'saving' the child that fell in the moat.![]()
Especially for silverback Richard it was a real shock, as well his reaction on Tatu´s death today was extreme.
Now that is an interesting story I had never heard that one before,about Jambo but some how it doesn't surprise me that he was clever enough to know that.A loss like that is a big shock for the whole group. Many years ago at Jersey Zoo, the male infant Motaba got his head stuck in the ceiling bars of the indoor area. Amid the general panic of the group his mother 'Nandi' was frantically pulling down at her offspring and in danger of seriously hurting it, but the clever father 'Jambo' intervened-he supported the baby while sliding him along to a place where the bars were fractionally wider and his head could slip back through. So the baby was unhurt. I think Jambo deserved a medal for that-more so than for 'saving' the child that fell in the moat.![]()
Now that is an interesting story I had never heard that one before,about Jambo but some how it doesn't surprise me that he was clever enough to know that.
Will have to keep my eye open for that book it sounds as if,it will be an interesting read,even for a confirmed none Great Ape Fan like myself.That said Jambo is one gorilla I'm glad to be able to say I have had the pleasure,of having seen up close and personnal.Its related in their keeper Richard J-Scott's excellent book about 'Jambo'. In true zoo fashion, this incident happened while Princess Anne was visiting the Zoo and just a few moments before she was due to come through the Gorilla House. The indoor enclosure had been made spic and span and decked out with browse etc to look good for HRH. But after this the enclosure looked like a tornado had been through and was spattered with diarrhoea from the panicked Gorillas. Maybe the royal visitor thought it always looked like that!![]()
Will have to keep my eye open for that book it sounds as if,it will be an interesting read,even for a confirmed none Great Ape Fan like myself.It's called 'Jambo- A Gorilla's Story'. I've always followed the development of that group but it contains quite a few other interesting anecdotes that I was unaware about until I read it.
I'm interested to know how the majority of Gorillas are transported between zoos nowadays. They used to always be 'knocked out' for travel but nowadays at least some are crate-trained without aneasthetic for their journey, to reduce the risks. But when Boulas went from Twycross to Longleat recently I think he was drugged. I don't know about the other three that have gone to Longleat.
Which practise is the more common?
Between 2001-05 I transported 9 Gorillas in seperate journeys between European & Uk zoos. In all cases the animals were tranquilised for loading and were brought round before being driven off. In all cases they were unloaded from their crates direct into dens.
The furthest trip was Rome to Bristol with a pair.
We never had any problems with any Gorilla, although we scared the living day lights out of security personnel at Calais, who were required to inspect the van.