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TNT said:
Whilst I'm unsure on the success with older castrated males (as I don't think any of the trial individuals are old enough yet), I know it is a successful method for adolescents/blackbacks. I believe that the only castrated male that would have been old enough to be considered an adult has unfortunately passed away from non-castration related issues.
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Update; The oldest castrated male in European Zoos is now 18 years old- Loango at Gaia Park, the next oldest is at Chessington (Mbula, 13) and both places also have a second castrated male(12 & 10 respectively). Vallee de Singes in France also have a 12 year old in their group. The 18 year old is certainly fully adult and the others getting close. Currently (afaik) all are still living in their natal groups, but another young castrated male in Apenheul (Jabari, also 10) is currently split from his, as he challenged/hassled a newer old and quiet silverback.

The situation in Gaia Park is also interesting as a new silverback moved in recently after the castrated males' own father died. But they seem to have been accepted in this new group too.

The original fully adult male which died of non-related issues was Kukuma, who died aged 23 in Belfast. He was the original single 'trial' male, born at Apenheul he then spent most of his life in the Belfast group without incident.
 
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Pertinax said:
Update; The oldest castrated male in European Zoos is now 18 years old- Loango at Gaia Park, the next oldest is at Chessington (Mbula, 13) and both places also have a second castrated male(12 & 10 respectively). Vallee de Singes in France also have a 12 year old in their group. The 18 year old is certainly fully adult and the others getting close. Currently (afaik) all are still living in their natal groups, but another young castrated male in Apenheul (Jabari, also 10) is currently split from his, as he challenged/hassled a newer old and quiet silverback.

The situation in Gaia Park is also interesting as a new silverback moved in recently after the castrated males' own father died. But they seem to have been accepted in this new group too.

The original fully adult male which died of non-related issues was Kukuma, who died aged 23 in Belfast. He was the original single 'trial' male, born at Apenheul he then spent most of his life in the Belfast group without incident.
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Thanks for the updates! I'm fairly out of date with ages myself :)
 
TNT said:
Castration is an option that has and is being trailed successfully in the EEP population, allowing surplus non-breeding males to be maintained with their family group. Whilst I'm unsure on the success with older castrated males (as I don't think any of the trial individuals are old enough yet), I know it is a successful method for adolescents/blackbacks. I believe that the only castrated male that would have been old enough to be considered an adult has unfortunately passed away from non-castration related issues.

One fairly recent study (Letang et al., 2021) highlighted that castrated blackbacks were less socially isolated than those that were intact when still maintained in their family group, suggesting it has benefits even if the intent isn't to maintain the castrated male in it's family group in the long-term. Whilst they still have the very difficult job of integration to consider, depending on the infants importance to the population (I'm assuming he's not from a genetic perspective), castration could be a great option for them.

No trying to make any suggestions as to what they should do, just sharing some recent science :)
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Pertinax said:
Update; The oldest castrated male in European Zoos is now 18 years old- Loango at Gaia Park, the next oldest is at Chessington (Mbula, 13) and both places also have a second castrated male(12 & 10 respectively). Vallee de Singes in France also have a 12 year old in their group. The 18 year old is certainly fully adult and the others getting close. Currently (afaik) all are still living in their natal groups, but another young castrated male in Apenheul (Jabari, also 10) is currently split from his, as he challenged/hassled a newer old and quiet silverback.

The situation in Gaia Park is also interesting as a new silverback moved in recently after the castrated males' own father died. But they seem to have been accepted in this new group too.

The original fully adult male which died of non-related issues was Kukuma, who died aged 23 in Belfast. He was the original single 'trial' male, born at Apenheul he then spent most of his life in the Belfast group without incident.
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With regards to Kaius at Mogo, the current issue is whether they can reintegrate him with his family troop. Infants rejected by their mothers at Melbourne Zoo were all accepted back by their mothers by the time they were juveniles, but there’s the question of whether Mogo’s silverback would tolerate this. If the daily bottle feeds in their presence have reaffirmed this infant is their family, there’s a chance - but if that bond isn’t there, there’s be concerns for his safety.

As for castrating Kaius, it’d be wise to make his assessment in two or three years. If he’s able to be reintroduced to his troop and Kipenzi produces another male infant in the near future (the removal of Kaius means she could already be cycling), then the obvious option would be to place these two males in a bachelor troop a decade from now. If a female infants follows, then castration could allow both siblings to remain in their natal troop long term.

In any case, Kaius is not genetically valuable - descending from two well represented lines.
 
Zoofan15 said:
With regards to Kaius at Mogo, the current issue is whether they can reintegrate him with his family troop. Infants rejected by their mothers at Melbourne Zoo were all accepted back by their mothers by the time they were juveniles, but there’s the question of whether Mogo’s silverback would tolerate this. If the daily bottle feeds in their presence have reaffirmed this infant is their family, there’s a chance - but if that bond isn’t there, there’s be concerns for his safety.

As for castrating Kaius, it’d be wise to make his assessment in two or three years. If he’s able to be reintroduced to his troop and Kipenzi produces another male infant in the near future (the removal of Kaius means she could already be cycling), then the obvious option would be to place these two males in a bachelor troop a decade from now. If a female infants follows, then castration could allow both siblings to remain in their natal troop long term.

In any case, Kaius is not genetically valuable - descending from two well represented lines.
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Its unfortunate too that he's the first offspring of both parents and in a very small troop. In a larger group with more experienced parents, re-integration might well be easier- older/more experienced silverback fathers being less interested than this one evidently is. I suspect Kipenzi might well take him back but the risks overall are still high I think. But he will be yet another surplus male, whatever happens. I don't like castration in gorillas but longterm it does help with the 'male' problem which zoo breeding has itself created.
 
I'm not particularly knowledgeable about these things, although all things considered, I think that a male handraised infant is ultimately in a better position than a female, but that's just my opinion. Hopefully Kisane's care for baby Kaius in his early hours is an indication of a caring and accepting nature.
 
Abbey said:
I'm not particularly knowledgeable about these things, although all things considered, I think that a male handraised infant is ultimately in a better position than a female, but that's just my opinion. Hopefully Kisane's care for baby Kaius in his early hours is an indication of a caring and accepting nature.
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I had a friend that use to work for the San Diego Zoo/Wild animal park, One of his tasks was to introduce hand raised babies back into the troop, he had success in doing this!
 
Abbey said:
I'm not particularly knowledgeable about these things, although all things considered, I think that a male handraised infant is ultimately in a better position than a female, but that's just my opinion. Hopefully Kisane's care for baby Kaius in his early hours is an indication of a caring and accepting nature.
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A socially normal (mother raised) male of this species should display dominant behaviour over the females in his troop; while his female counterparts should demonstrate submissive behaviour.

The greatest problem is when socially abnormally females fail to show deference to the silverback and his attempts to discipline them escalate to aggression.

So yes, I’d expect a hand raised male to fare better with mother raised females than the other way around. There’s plenty of examples where a cohesive troop has been formed - even if the male doesn’t mate the females and they run rings around him. The highest ranking female will usually assume dominance of the troop - but the male won’t be ousted or killed as the females are innately aware they should be submissive (even if they’re not).
 
Mogo have recently received new Zebra stallion, ten year old Melako from Werribee.

Their former stallion, Ken, sadly passed late last year.
 
As mentioned in their socials, Kaius the baby gorilla will go on display this Saturday and Sunday (the 10th and 11th) alongside Zookeeper Chad.
 
I had a quick visit to Mogo zoo today and there’s a couple of updates. Sadly, Tenzin the Snow Leopard has passed away at the age of 19. Her enclosure will be used for the caracal. They’re also importing a Silvery Gibbon as a partner for the eldest daughter (who’s name escapes me) who will arrived in March from San Diego. He’ll quarantine at Mogo for 90 days then they’ll move to an exhibit on one of the islands. Also, the ostriches are no longer on display and you can no longer feed the animals in there, with a new fence being erected. Finally, they appear to have split their giraffes, with some being in the paddock with the zebras
 
Tigergal said:
I had a quick visit to Mogo zoo today and there’s a couple of updates. Sadly, Tenzin the Snow Leopard has passed away at the age of 19. Her enclosure will be used for the caracal. They’re also importing a Silvery Gibbon as a partner for the eldest daughter (who’s name escapes me) who will arrived in March from San Diego. He’ll quarantine at Mogo for 90 days then they’ll move to an exhibit on one of the islands. Also, the ostriches are no longer on display and you can no longer feed the animals in there, with a new fence being erected. Finally, they appear to have split their giraffes, with some being in the paddock with the zebras
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I may be wrong but I don’t believe San Diego has Silvery Gibbons?
 
Update on Kaius (gorilla infant):

It’s encouraging to hear of the troop’s sustained interest in him.

From Mogo’s director:

So this video isn’t quite as cute as some of the recent ones (see socials for video) but wanted to show the next step with Kaius.

He has a bed down in the off display bedrooms with the gorillas that he sleeps in for various amounts of time in the afternoon/evening now. These are the first blocks of time that he is down with them without me being there with him, and the family is spending lots of time sitting next to him.
 
Zoofan15 said:
Update on Kaius (gorilla infant):

It’s encouraging to hear of the troop’s sustained interest in him.

From Mogo’s director:

So this video isn’t quite as cute as some of the recent ones (see socials for video) but wanted to show the next step with Kaius.

He has a bed down in the off display bedrooms with the gorillas that he sleeps in for various amounts of time in the afternoon/evening now. These are the first blocks of time that he is down with them without me being there with him, and the family is spending lots of time sitting next to him.
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Wonderful news
 
Zoofan15 said:
It’s encouraging to hear of the troop’s sustained interest in him.
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They are doing the right thing with him- the quicker and longer times they get him relating to the group the more likely the group are to continue reciprocating that interest I think, particularly when humans aren't present(?). I also imagine they've been in contact with other zoos for advice over all this, perhaps including Howletts in the UK as that is where Kisane came from.
 
Pertinax said:
They are doing the right thing with him- the quicker and longer times they get him relating to the group the more likely the group are to continue reciprocating that interest I think, particularly when humans aren't present(?). I also imagine they've been in contact with other zoos for advice over all this, perhaps including Howletts in the UK as that is where Kisane came from.
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Yes, the time he spends with the troop is without any humans present (the director is his sole carer) - albeit in protected contact (visual contact only).

The troop clearly have an affinity for the infant that even if borne out of curiosity rather than a typical social bond, will hopefully allow a safe and successful introduction.
 
Zoofan15 said:
The troop clearly have an affinity for the infant that even if borne out of curiosity rather than a typical social bond, will hopefully allow a safe and successful introduction.
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The accompanying short video shows the baby sleeping in a crib/cot in the empty cage. A female gorilla is at the mesh trying to see him. Presumably that's his mother? Kisane can also be seen sitting in the background.
 
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