Lowland Gorillas in Europe 2014

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In Burgers Zoo, Shatilla expects her young in the middle of may, so that means 6 gorilla births within 13 months in the same group. I would think that is a record....
 
Pertinax said:
but Mouila actually has few, if any, descendants breeding in the Howletts groups themselves(I would have to check Willard's charts to verify that).
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I have investigated Mouila's many descendants a bit more. She appears to have just one grandaughter 'Bamilla' (Bitam x KillaKilla) still living at Howletts, in the Kifu group I believe.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Any chance that Timbou might become a family man sometime yet?
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I believe initially he was the male they planned to send to Twycross but EEP recommended they send the mother-raised 'Oumbie' instead(these two are full-brothers so genetically its virtually the same).

As 'Timbou' has lived on his own a long time now (he can see the adjacent males) that might have a bearing on any future decision made about him (either way). Also both his parents(Bitam x Mouila) are very well represented, though oddly on Mouila's side, not in the Howletts breeding groups themselves, where she has only a single(?) grandaughter still there. But regarding Timbou, being Howletts/PL, you never know.;)
 
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He did have a mate prior to 2001, female Sumathi!

Some unbelievably *** article about not having any genitals (...:rolleyes: :mad:)!!! Link: Mysore gorilla may have been castrated | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

The - alas - anonymous author - who wishes to remain anonymous (not a good sign) into the grave - was rather suggestive in this and seems to have been not familiar with great ape sexual organs / physics ... (I would not let this anonymous bloke near one .. for fear of his shocking ignorance or - even - sheer incompetence).

It is rather disconcerting to learn a (former) zoo staff member is unfamiliar with the animal's - non-breeding (in Dublin) - history and attributes the lack of breeding to a medical procedure ... rather than that the animal may not have been compatible with their female or simply physical-mentally unable to breed (as happens more often in infertile gorilla males).
 
What a lot of twaddle.:D Just shows how easily they get their wires crossed..:rolleyes: 'Polo' didn't have 'many' offspring in Dublin, he didn't have any- that's why they moved him out- he was simply either a non-mater or infertile, I can't remember which but probably the former. He certainly wasn't castrated either- he was a typical normal male silverback.
 
In Burgers Zoo gorilla Shatilla has given birth to a female young this morning, they are doing well and were even visible in the outdoor enclosure today.

There are now six gorilla babies in Burgers Zoo, all born in the last 14 months, so the group now consists of 15 members.
 
Very sad news but inevitable. Frm their illustrious past with them, Basel have really fallen on hard times with their Gorillas and now have only five, the four females, all of them over thirty, and the castrated male 'Zungu' who I believe is also infected with the Tapeworm that killed Kisoro, so his days may be numbered also.

Also any new male, even a full adult, brought into this group as it is currently could have a hard time dominating the established elderly and middle-aged females. I imagine they might try to add a younger female also as they did when Kisoro and Joas arrived.
 
i just re-read to articles from swiss newspapers. in them the basel zoo confirmed that zungu is infected with the tapeworm since 2007. female kati, who died 2010 may have died from a tapeworm infection as well. zolli confirmed three gorillas of their group are being infected, which means one of the female gorillas is infected too.

as for the group, i was in basel on may 10th and i was surprised that zungu, though being castrated behaves like a maturing black back causing all kinds of trouble with goma and quarta, while joas and faddama were having their own disagreements. kisoro did not interfere anywhere at all, he looked like a very old man and was obviously very week. he did eat but not much and slept the rest of the time watched over (at least that is how it looked) by faddama.

i think, zungu (he behaves strikingly different than loango in kerkrade and is almost twice as large) may be more of a problem for now than the female gorillas for an introduction with a new silverback.

in the set you will find some pictures of the group from may 10th:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/frauschnatterliese/sets/72157644555098376/
 
I believe the young male 'Nangi' who was sent to Wuppertal many years back when 'TamTam' was also moved, also died from Fox Tapeworm.

Thanks for the link to the photos. 'Zungu' doesn't look 'altered' in his appearance, at least not yet. I would like to know when he was operated on- I have a feeling he may already have been older/bigger than e.g. Loango or the other recent castrated baby males. Maybe that has made the difference? If it hasn't changed his behaviour(yet) either, the old females will no doubt find him very annoying at this age, particularly with no Silverback present now.

I think that Quarta and Faddama both look like their father/grandfather 'Stephi' -especially 'Faddama'. It really is a very reduced group now.
 
It would be interesting to check whether any recent additions or transfers from Basel Zoo are similarly affected by fox tapeworm (which incidentally is also a high risk disease for humans - e.g. eating wild berries ...::eek:).
 
Presumably you mean other species than Gorillas?

I believe their press release about this says that Humans aren't susceptible to Fox tapeworm.
 
Pertinax said:
Presumably you mean other species than Gorillas?

I believe their press release about this says that Humans aren't susceptible to Fox tapeworm.
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@Pertinax, it is in the eating of berries. There are health warnings for this on the Continent!
 
Boulas dies at Longleat.

The silverback 'Boulas' has died at Longleat. See Longleat UK thread for press release from Park.

Longleat was Boulas' fifth home. Born at Howletts(Bitam x Mouila) he later headed the 2nd bachelor group at Port Lympne. He was then transferred to Belfast as a breeding silverback, but never fathered young- infertile? After ten years he moved to Twycross to live in a 'retirement group' with the older females there but after a couple of years due to reorganisation of their two groups into a single one, in 2012 he was moved again, this time to the new male group at Longleat. However being fully adult I don't think they could integrate him with the three brothers, so he remained solitary, and quite probably would have continued to do so for the rest of his life, had he not died.
 
Silverback 'Kim' died at Cologne zoo. July 14th.

He is the second group leader to be lost in Europe in recent weeks, the first being Kisoro at Basel Zoo. Both Zoos currently have a similar number of females(4) and one homebred blackbacked/10 year old male living in each group- though the one at Cologne(Kim x Gina) is the son of one female there, and 'Zungu' at Basel is castrated- and may also have the Fox tapeworm illness his father eventually died from too.

So new males can be expected in due course no doubt at both these Zoos.
 
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