Paignton Zoo Paignton Zoo Gorillas.

Velvet said:
And -also very important- any new information about N'Dowe and Kiri?
Greetings from Stuttgart
Velvet
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N'Dowe and Kiri have settled in well and spend their time playing with Kivu and Kiondo in the show den. They haven't met Pertinax and Kumbuka yet. I believe they've been taken outside to experience the island and the electric fences but kkkp might like to tell you more about that, and about their different personalities.
 
Velvet said:
Hello everybody!

Did you already hear about Mutasi's brand new baby girl born 8th march?
11.03.09 Gorillababy - Wilhelma
The still nameless is the 30th baby gorilla born in this group since 1974, daughter of Mutasi, granddaughter of Mimi who still lives in the group. I keep all my fingers crossed for the little one.

And the building of the new ape house will definitely start this fall said the administration of the land of Baden-Württemberg in January. Lets keep all our fingers crossed that there will be no further delay.


And -also very important- any new information about N'Dowe and Kiri? (And Kera maybe??)

Greetings from Stuttgart
Velvet
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Hello Velvet ,

I posted a couple of pictures on Gallery of N'dowe and Kiri .They are doing so well N'dowe plays with Kivu and Kiri plays with Kiondu,for the most part they tend to pick up the habits of their older brothers like thumb sucking etc. N'dowe when he sees the bigger gorillas out side he stands tall and beats his chest .
They have been outside with their keepers and the first time they held their hands but then they just relaxed and enjoyed themselves doing what they do best playing.
They have to be so carefull when they put them in with the others but I am sure all will go well will keep you posted.
I have heard that little Kera is doing really well.
bye from Paignton
kkkp:D
 
Good morning!

@Gigit & kkkp
Thank you so much for your fast and kind answers :) . Oh, I'm so glad and relieved everthing is well up to now. Seems like N'Dowe is a strong character despite his bad experiences.

About Kera I found a report dated 29th January 2009 on Bristol zoo's homepage ( An update on the progress of the newest addition to the Zoo?s gorilla family ). She's also doing very well and has now temporary contact with the whole group.

Greetings from Stuttgart
Velvet
 
When at Bristol a couple of weeks ago all 6 gorillas were together inside though not much interaction going on between them . Apart from mothers and offspring or youngsters playing together , it does seem to me that gorillas spend much of their time ignoring each other in captive groups .
 
Bele said:
Apart from mothers and offspring or youngsters playing together , it does seem to me that gorillas spend much of their time ignoring each other in captive groups .
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That is true. Bristol's group is essentially two unrelated females who keep a good distance away from each other much of the time- so even their offspring don't interrelate that much as they stay with their respective mothers (though that is likely to change as they grow & become increasingly independant)

Contrast them with e.g. Chessington's group (at least as it was prior to the arrival of Damisi)- which is/was much more 'cohesive' because they are a genuine family group.
 
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Good news from Stuttgart

Good morning Alle!
Quite a while ago we talked about the ape house in Wilhelma and the situation of the orphaned gorilla kids.
Now it's official and the ministry of finance gave their approval: the new ape house will be deffinitely built. They started already with the removing of some spare stables and in spring the construction of the new house starts.
Greetings from Stuttgart Velvet

PS Mutasi's little girl Mawensi is fine and growing quick and so do the motherless Mary, Monza and little Uppala who is the biggest charmer of all gorilla kids I've seen so far
 
I was wondering if anyone knows if there are still any Zoos that still go in with there Gorillas as my friend went to Paignton during the summer and the keeper there was bragging that he still went in with them!!!
 
Welcome to the forum Cartman.

Your opening posts (this and the redundancy one) are fairly provocative/stirring the brown stuff. I hope you can back up your statements. :)

I'm just gonna stand back on this one and see how things develop. :):)
 
Cartman417 said:
I was wondering if anyone knows if there are still any Zoos that still go in with there Gorillas as my friend went to Paignton during the summer and the keeper there was bragging that he still went in with them!!!
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It's probably not a case of 'bragging'. Paignton has a bachelor group of gorillas and takes in very young hand reared males so that they can grow up in a social group before going on to other zoos to breed. The keepers spend a lot of time with them when they arrive to help them settle in and to develop a bond with them. There are some photos in the Gallery showing them doing this.
 
Thanks for the information Gigit, I stand corrected and sheepish :o:

Maybe I should change my name to "Doubting Shorts"!
 
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Shorts said:
Welcome to the forum Cartman.

Your opening posts (this and the redundancy one) are fairly provocative/stirring the brown stuff. I hope you can back up your statements. :)

I'm just gonna stand back on this one and see how things develop. :):)
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I can back up my statement as one of my friends was one of the they let go the only thing i wont do is put the name of the zoo on here because i know for a fact they check the website. The only reason i asked about going in with the Gorillas is i dont understand why they still do it if they are in a group. Why don't you just let them get on with it and cut out the human contact. I know some places have gone to far with human contact and for this reason the animals have never bread and shown no interest in the other animals in thier group and just crave human attention. I'm not stirring the brown stuff if i was doing that i would name the zoo! And i do know what im talking about as i have been in zoos for many years and seen what i would call the destruction of one of the household named zoos in England.
 
Cartman417 said:
I can back up my statement as one of my friends was one of the they let go the only thing i wont do is put the name of the zoo on here because i know for a fact they check the website. The only reason i asked about going in with the Gorillas is i dont understand why they still do it if they are in a group. Why don't you just let them get on with it and cut out the human contact. I know some places have gone to far with human contact and for this reason the animals have never bread and shown no interest in the other animals in thier group and just crave human attention. I'm not stirring the brown stuff if i was doing that i would name the zoo! And i do know what im talking about as i have been in zoos for many years and seen what i would call the destruction of one of the household named zoos in England.
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Am sure someone else could answer your question about the Gorillas, but from things said on here it seems that they are only in with Gorillas for the first few months after their transfer to settle them in before introducing them to the rest of the group.
 
In Paignton's case, most of the young males they have come from different sources e.g. Stuttgart nursery group, or other zoos and so are not necessarily familiar with each other. As explained previously by Gigit, the keepers go in with them to give them confidence, some of the handraised youngsters being happier with people than other Gorillas. This helps them get on better terms with the other Gorillas too, rather like teachers introducing strange children to each other at junior school and supervising them.

Young male Gorillas are never a social 'group' in the true sense of the word- they are just several animals which are living together on a(normally) friendly basis. So going in with them isn't going to disrupt any social ties.
 
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Stuttgart - Wilhelma - New House for Gorillas

@Gigit
Zoo information is that the new house will be for the African apes, that is Gorillas and Bonobos and the orphan station.
Chimpanzee keeping ends or will be ending, there are only two not-so-young anymore chimps in Wilhelma now and it's not decided yet if they stay or if they move on to another zoo.
The whole old Ape house will be renovated and modernized for the Orangs so they will have a nice home too and much more space than nowadays.
Greetings from Stuttgart Velvet
 
Velvet said:
Wilhelma - New House for Gorillas
the new house will be for the African apes, that is Gorillas and Bonobos and the orphan station.
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Do you know if it is being designed so that the nursery for young handraised Gorillas will be near the adult Gorilla group- allowing 'Gorilla contact' for the orphans from an early age?
 
Pertinax said:
Do you know if it is being designed so that the nursery for young handraised Gorillas will be near the adult Gorilla group- allowing 'Gorilla contact' for the orphans from an early age?
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The nursery will be integrated into the new house.
Wilhelma says in their press release:
" The little ones will have permanent sight contact to an intact family group of which they can learn typical species behaviour - that will make it much easier for them to be later integrated into an ape family."
 
Velvet said:
The nursery will be integrated into the new house.
Wilhelma says in their press release:
" The little ones will have permanent sight contact to an intact family group of which they can learn typical species behaviour - that will make it much easier for them to be later integrated into an ape family."
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Excellent- glad this plan is going to happen!:)
 
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