A month after his arrival from the UK, Western lowland Gorilla Kisane is settling in at Mogo Zoo with the high hopes he and two female gorillas keep their species another few steps away from extinction with a few babies for everyone to learn about and embrace.
The idea for baby gorillas on the south coast is something for everyone to get excited about and with the first introduction, the chance of this happening in the next two years is looking good.
Althea Guinsberg who works closely with the gorillas says the intro with Kisane and the first female has been “positive so far”.
“We are currently doing intros with our new male Kisane who came from the Howlett Zoo in the UK and G Anne one of our females,” she said.
“There are some positive signs but we have a little while to still go,” Althena says.
Pairing isn’t always successful making the outcome unpredictable and the process enduring.
“It’s been positive in that they are tolerant of each other in their space but are still wary of one another, we are hopeful of getting the two together but we still have to introduce the pair to our other females which is very exciting,” Althena explains.
Found in the wilds of the Congo basin in Africa, the Western Lowland Gorillas have suffered a decline of over 60 per cent in the last 20-25 years, due to rampant poaching, habitat loss, and disease. They’re classified as a critically endangered species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.
The Mogo Zoo, as a proud member of the zoological parks fraternity in the country, has been playing an active role in conserving these wonders of nature. As the Gorilla breeding programme gets under way, the Mogo Zoo eagerly awaits for an addition to its collection of babies from the animal world. Fingers crossed!
Original Article published by Elise Searson on About Regional.