Lowland Gorillas in Europe 2025

MennoPebesma said:
40-year-old gorilla male Bao Bao passed away at Apenheul today. His health continued to deteriorate recently and worsened over the past two days. It was therefore decided to euthanise him.

Source: Facebook Apenheul
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Sad news to hear. He is survived by his son, Kiango who will likely go into a breeding situation eventually.

Apenhaul did a great job integrating him females, and was able to achieve the ultimate goal of him producing offspring which was doubted initially due to his social background. It's something they can hold their heads on now, knowing he got to live out his final days at a great facility with members of his own kind.

I guess now the remaining three individuals in his harem (including his son) will now be integrated with Banjoko's group. Kiango's now four, so old enough to theoretically be introduced. Or perhaps they'll look at acquiring an entirely new silverback, and integrating him with them.
 
Jambo said:
I guess now the remaining three individuals in his harem (including his son) will now be integrated with Banjoko's group. Kiango's now four, so old enough to theoretically be introduced. Or perhaps they'll look at acquiring an entirely new silverback, and integrating him with them.
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In the full news release on their website, Apenheul stated that they will remain on their own island for the time being.
 
MennoPebesma said:
In the full news release on their website, Apenheul stated that they will remain on their own island for the time being.
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Obviously for the meantime...but a decision as to what will happen to these individuals will have to be made soon. I would be surprised if next year comes around and this group is still as it is now.
 
Jambo said:
Obviously for the meantime...but a decision as to what will happen to these individuals will have to be made soon. I would be surprised if next year comes around and this group is still as it is now.
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Sad but inevitable and BaoBao did look old for his age too so for me not so unexpected. I think they will integrate them into a single group once they think Kiango is old enough. Maybe in a few months or a year perhaps.
 
Pertinax said:
Sad but inevitable and BaoBao did look old for his age too so for me not so unexpected. I think they will integrate them into a single group once they think Kiango is old enough. Maybe in a few months or a year perhaps.
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sorry to hear this news.

for the time being not that much change is expected from my side. they will take time. the season is going to come. in the meantime they can ponder what should be done.
anyway. in the first place what about Kiango. he is now living in a group of three. old female, his foster mother, Kiango himself. what will be the best way preparing him for group leader?
Putting him in a bachelor situation? for the coming 12 years.
how is the situation at Apenheul in creating a bachelor group? possible too small.

I am doubting if he could be integrated in their existing family group.

so the time being at Apenheul, one family group, one three together
 
The best thing for Kiango to develop good social skills is to integrate him and the 2 females into the big group where he can be with other young gorillas and observe a silverback mating & leading his family.

I think it is possible to merge both groups because silverbacks are usually quite tolerant towards orphaned gorilla kids once they are weaned.
 
john said:
sorry to hear this news.

for the time being not that much change is expected from my side. they will take time. the season is going to come. in the meantime they can ponder what should be done.
anyway. in the first place what about Kiango. he is now living in a group of three. old female, his foster mother, Kiango himself. what will be the best way preparing him for group leader?
Putting him in a bachelor situation? for the coming 12 years.
how is the situation at Apenheul in creating a bachelor group? possible too small.

I am doubting if he could be integrated in their existing family group.

so the time being at Apenheul, one family group, one three together
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Yassa said:
The best thing for Kiango to develop good social skills is to integrate him and the 2 females into the big group where he can be with other young gorillas and observe a silverback mating & leading his family.

I think it is possible to merge both groups because silverbacks are usually quite tolerant towards orphaned gorilla kids once they are weaned.
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Yes I presumed that Kiango and the two females will in due course be integrated into the other group to give one larger one. I think that will probably have been their longer term plan. In London the new silverback Kiburi accepted the young male Gernot, fathered by the previous male, without problems afaik. Also I'm sure the females would protect Kiango in the event of any aggression from Banjoko, but I'd be surprised if he showed any. He seems a well balanced male and I saw video of him playing with the younger castrated male Jabari which shows good tolerance.
 
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Pertinax said:
Yes I presumed that Kiango and the two females will in due course be integrated into the other group to give one larger one. I think that will probably have been their longer term plan. In London the new silverback Kiburi accepted the young male Gernot, fathered by the previous male, without problems afaik. Also I'm sure the females would protect Kiango in the event of any aggression from Banjoko, but I'd be surprised if he showed any. He seems a well balanced male and I saw video of him playing with the younger castrated male Jabari which shows good tolerance.
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Only difference was Gernot was seven years old at the time of Kiburi's arrival, so at the point, he was essentially an adolescent blackback. Kiango only recently turned five, so it's possible that Apenhaul might just elect to give him more time.

In saying that, it really comes down to the individual personalities within the group. If there's diplomacy, the group could remain together without a silverback however, in a fair amount of circumstances, the females will bicker and fight leading to the necessary addition of a silverback. Although in this case I do note it's just Kiango, his foster mother and an elderly female. So I doubt there will be any issues there if they were to remain without a silverback for the foreseeable.
 
Jambo said:
Only difference was Gernot was seven years old at the time of Kiburi's arrival, so at the point, he was essentially an adolescent blackback. Kiango only recently turned five, so it's possible that Apenhaul might just elect to give him more time.

In saying that, it really comes down to the individual personalities within the group. If there's diplomacy, the group could remain together without a silverback however, in a fair amount of circumstances, the females will bicker and fight leading to the necessary addition of a silverback. Although in this case I do note it's just Kiango, his foster mother and an elderly female. So I doubt there will be any issues there if they were to remain without a silverback for the foreseeable.
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that group of three could exist for some more years. that will not be the issue. but, how will that benefit Kiango, how will that nurish the development of skills needed for a future silverback?

Apenheul has to find out a strategy , a place, s situation to give the legacy of BauBau, so Kiango, the best boost for the coming ten or more years.
I am sure they have been pondering about this.
 
john said:
that group of three could exist for some more years. that will not be the issue. but, how will that benefit Kiango, how will that nurish the development of skills needed for a future silverback?

Apenheul has to find out a strategy , a place, s situation to give the legacy of BauBau, so Kiango, the best boost for the coming ten or more years.
I am sure they have been pondering about this.
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For the sake of his social development it would probably be better to integrate him into a troop with a silverback in the future. In saying that, they could afford to delay that for another year or so - it's not something that they will need to rush into.
 
Jambo said:
Kiango only recently turned five, so it's possible that Apenhaul might just elect to give him more time.

If there's diplomacy, the group could remain together without a silverback however, in a fair amount of circumstances, the females will bicker and fight leading to the necessary addition of a silverback. Although in this case I do note it's just Kiango, his foster mother and an elderly female. So I doubt there will be any issues there if they were to remain without a silverback for the foreseeable.
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Kiango only just turned four, not five. As such they may feel he's still too young to try an integration into the larger group but I feel certain that will be their longerterm plan, and to have the one bigger group as a display being another consideration. The island the second group(now a trio) live on is quite small too and was really designed for monkeys, not gorillas. But they may hold off for a while yet for safety. I don't think the females will 'bicker and fight' without a male though as its now only Kiango's foster-carer and the very much older Mintha who must be very quiet and slow at her age. I don't think BaoBao actively controlled them much either from what I've heard.

I do think its important Kiango stays with female company as I think that's an important element for his future development. Perhaps more so than any 'tutoring' or learning from a silverback ( I don't really adhere to that more modern theory- I believe much of their behaviour is innate and so doesn't need to be learned). Undeniably though the ideal is a social group with the full complement of sex and age classes and I think that's what Apenheul will aim for now.
 
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Pertinax said:
Kiango only just turned four, not five. As such they may feel he's still too young to try an integration into the larger group but I feel certain that will be their longerterm plan, and to have the one bigger group as a display being another consideration. The island the second group(now a trio) live on is quite small too and was really designed for monkeys, not gorillas. But they may hold off for a while yet for safety. I don't think the females will 'bicker and fight' without a male though as its now only Kiango's foster-carer and the very much older Mintha who must be very quiet and slow at her age. I don't think BaoBao actively controlled them much either from what I've heard.

I do think its important Kiango stays with female company as I think that's an important element for his future development. Perhaps more so than any 'tutoring' or learning from a silverback ( I don't really adhere to that more modern theory- I believe much of their behaviour is innate and so doesn't need to be learned). Undeniably though the ideal is a social group with the full complement of sex and age classes and I think that's what Apenheul will aim for now.
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thanks all a lot
 
Arek said:
Yes, the females are already in Warsaw, but the zoo is silent about it. Today, the male Azizi turned 25 years (since 2008 in Warszawa). Girls will be a beautiful gift for him. :)
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I guess they took them at the same time they delivered/collected Viking? I think there was a brief sentence somewhere saying (names of the two females) had 'gone the other way.' But Warsaw makes no mention yet?
 
Jambo said:
Obviously for the meantime...but a decision as to what will happen to these individuals will have to be made soon. I would be surprised if next year comes around and this group is still as it is now.
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From a reliable source I hear the intention is, as I presumed, to add Kiango and the two females to Banjoko's larger group. But they will wait until after the summer season as it may need a week or so of them being offshow while they do it.
 
Jambo said:
Apenhaul - Mintha, Nemsi and Kiango are now in the process of being introduced to the main group.

Apenheul
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They have speeded up then from the plan I heard. It seems the two females are missing a male to lead them. They are offshow during this but I'm fairly confident it will go quite easily, I hope so.
 
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jtrbmvcq said:
Viking will move from Warsaw Zoo (Poland) to Burgers’ Zoo (Netherlands).

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I've watched several videos of Viking together with the 4 females at Burgers. He doesn't seem at all confident yet, very quiet and very little or no interactions with the females I can see. No dominance displaying either. I think perhaps the females united toward him when he arrived and he is now intimidated by them rather. It seems a calm atmosphere but with no real bonding. They say they can't let him/them outside yet either.
 
Pertinax said:
I've watched several videos of Viking together with the 4 females at Burgers. He doesn't seem at all confident yet, very quiet and very little or no interactions with the females I can see. No dominance displaying either. I think perhaps the females united toward him when he arrived and he is now intimidated by them rather. It seems a calm atmosphere but with no real bonding. They say they can't let him/them outside yet either.
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The gorilla group at Burgers' Zoo has been back outside since last Tuesday, including Viking.

Source: Facebook Burgers' Zoo
 
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