Lowland Gorillas in Europe 2016

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Sammi from Givskud has been selected as a new breeding male for Howletts: Statement from Facebook

We’re very excited to announce that this weekend, the Old Gorillas group will be welcoming a new silverback, Sammi!
Sammi is coming to us from Givskud Zoo in Denmark. To make the move as comfortable as possible, the Old Gorillas section of the park will be closed to the public while Sammi settles in. The Old Gorillas are the family group at the back of the park, near the honey badger enclosure.
For all our gorilla fans, the New Gorillas will be open as usual. Turn left as you enter from the Gatehouse, and you’ll be heading right for them. At the New Gorillas section, you can see some of the beautiful gorillas we’ve pictured below!
 
Sammi is aged 11. This seems to be the normal age for EEP to move males- the USA SSP frown on this and only use much older males. Anyway, I hope it goes better than with Matadi. There are currently only two females for this new grouping- Tebe and Mali(ex Hanover) as the third one- Thirza (ex Rotterdam) has since died. No doubt they can add another one or two if it proves more successful than with Matadi.
 
Pertinax said:
Sammi is aged 11. This seems to be the normal age for EEP to move males-
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I guess it was the same situation as with Komale and some other males: these males were expelled from their natal group, are too old to be integrated in an existing bachelor group, and there is no space to build up a new group.
So I guess that the EEP also prefers to start with older males, but the situation dictates to act differently. Doesn't have to be a problem, let's see what happens.
 
persimon said:
So I guess that the EEP also prefers to start with older males, but the situation dictates to act differently. Doesn't have to be a problem, let's see what happens.
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I agree it does not have to be a problem- a number of males of this age group have been integrated into groups successfully in Europe with no real problems-both recently and in the further past(as at Howletts for example). The Americans do still seem to frown heavily on this practise though, citing immaturity as a serious problem-its a major difference in the approaches to group formation in the USA/Europe.
 
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Pertinax said:
I agree it does not have to be a problem- a number of males of this age group have been integrated into groups successfully in Europe with no real problems-both recently and in the further past(as at Howletts for example). The Americans do still seem to frown heavily on this practise though, citing immaturity as a serious problem-its a major difference in the approaches to group formation in the USA/Europe.
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Indeed it is. I'm still inclined to think an older, more experienced silverback is a better choice, but as 'persimon' has pointed out, "I guess that the EEP also prefers to start with older males, but the situation dictates to act differently." Which wouldn't be an issue in the first place if they had been willing to establish more bachelor groups in the past. I believe Tenerife was the first one, and was created at about the same time as the first in America. But while the SSP has stuck to this policy ever since, the EEP apparently hasn't.

I know I'm being a little polemic now, but the "let's see what happens" approach has, ultimately, led to the death of Kiki at Antwerp. With her suffering from epilepsy she was no doubt a special gorilla with special needs, but I'm still somewhat convinced that her chances for survival and a happy life would have been way better with a mature silverback, as was the late Kumba.

Personal remark: I've just arrived from a two weeks trip to the USA, and at the Louisville zoo in Kentucky I observed a bachelor troop of four fully grown males who get along very well with each other. That was really nice to see. One of them, Jelani, is well-known for his avid interest in photos and videos visitors would show him on their tablets, smartphones or in books. Here is a video of him and Jim Davis, who is a regular and has known him for many years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3c2KS3EfYc
 
Willard said:
but as 'persimon' has pointed out, "I guess that the EEP also prefers to start with older males, but the situation dictates to act differently."
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I would think there are several factors which dictate the age a new male is added to a group, and why these younger ones do frequently get selected in the EEP.

1. Is the male genetically important so earmarked to go into a breeding group anyway? ( recent examples; Komali; Matadi, Sammi) In which case it may be better to integrate him now into a male/female group sooner rather than leave him too long without females?

2. Are there any other suitable males he can partnered with to form a new bachelor group, or can he be integrated into an existing one? (not easy).

3. The availability of housing to take a new bachelor group.

4. Is there an older, mature male which is actually more suitable? i.e. genetically underrepresented, and not too desocialised from being handraised/spending too long in a male group etc. Moving one of these can also be an expensive risk of course if the outcome is failure to breed.(example;Ivo, Berlin)
 
I think that the Kiki case is very different. She was supposed to live with the friendly Kumba, but he died early.

There are several cases of successful bachelor groups, but the question is also what you call successful: that they live together (problem solved for coordinator) or that they are happy (how much social interactions with other/younger animals etc.)

Furthermore, recent analysis have shown that the SSP population is steadily decreasing, and if they do not manage to stop this (they try, but breed much less than planned!) their population is not sustainable. So although it might look for some people that they manage better their population, I predict that within 20 years they will come to the EEP to ask for animals.

Of course you have less problems if you breed less, but if your population will die out due to too careful management, you are doing something wrong.

I also think that for a future breeding male it is important he stays as long as possible in his natal group to be as social as possible (and not just being able to breed, but also leading a group).
 
persimon said:
I think that the Kiki case is very different. She was supposed to live with the friendly Kumba, but he died early.

There are several cases of successful bachelor groups, but the question is also what you call successful: that they live together (problem solved for coordinator) or that they are happy (how much social interactions with other/younger animals etc.)

I also think that for a future breeding male it is important he stays as long as possible in his natal group to be as social as possible (and not just being able to breed, but also leading a group).
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1. I think Kiki's problems only worsened after the death of Kumba. Whether she would have lived that long anyway, I don't know, but her demise was under very sad circumstances. I don't blame Antwerp in any way though I did not like the idea of them putting her with Matadi( which never happened of course).

2. As they get really mature the males often seem to just tolerate each other and become 'loners' being made to live together. Some become totally incompatable and then have to live alone anyway.

3. Agree also. Even up to young silverback stage if possible- and it sometimes is. In the wild I doubt that they ever leave at 8-9 years, more like 12+.
 
Baby born to Ozala at Twycross a couple of days ago on 25th September. This is her fifth.
 
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Belfast baby.

Press release says Namoki's baby was born 28th August and is female.
A genetically valuable baby on both sides- not only wild-caught male Gugas' third infant, but she also continues Namoki's mother Romina's' line- Romina is the only offspring of two wild-caught parents, while Namoki is very likely to be her only offspring also.
 
Outside the region really but with Europe connections;

Female G.Anne at Melbourne, Australia,(born Oklahoma USA, lived at Jersey for many years) has now been transferred to the retirement group at Mogo zoo. This because young silverback Otana(born Howletts) would not accept her back into the group following dental treatment.
 
Male D’jecco from Opole Zoo (born in Rotterdam) left Europe and moved to Taipei Zoo.
 
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