But the fourth male 'Boulas' from Twycross, seems not to have been integrated with them so far. They evidently remembered each other and got along fine on reintroduction after two years of the younger ones' seperation from Kesho. If the EEP is up for experimenting, why not on multi-silverback groups instead of castrations? I'm afraid the answer is equally evident and sad: money.Ĭlick to expand.Longleat have three brothers in their male group also- silverback Kesho from ZSL and his two younger brothers from Dublin. And was back in the early 1990's at Howletts (Djala and Kouillou). Which is currently the case in Jacksonville, Florida and in Pittsburgh, Ohio. Yet another option rarely discussed: Two adult males in one family group. On the other hand, Warsaw has two unrelated silverbacks who get along perfectly well, including frequently playing with each other. But only one of them has fully matured yet. They have three brothers (two full, one half) and a fourth unrelated male. I'm curious to see how the bachelor group in Schmiding develops over the next years. At least not for brothers who are *all* silverbacks. Personally I think they would but I don't have evidence.
You actually seem to be the first to suggest keeping family groups small with no more than 2 adult females, and indeed - won't that take a lot of pressure out of the issue? Your other suggestion is interesting as well - to find out if male groups work better when the males are related. But castration is just to *some* degree less cruel than euthanasia. I agree that zoos need to solve the surplus male problem on their own. Gorillas are not cattle or poultry we can deal with at our convenience, are they? If they start doing that, I'd go anti-zoo immediately. If we start killing gorillas in the name of conserving them it's nothing short of moral bankruptcy for the zoo world and the EEP. Not even Aspinall has done that.īut I don't agree in so far that "back to the wild" won't be preferable to euthanasia. Apart from being expensive, it would indeed lead to a surplus of males there - unless you "throw" them into a huge area with a population of hundreds of gorillas, which is just not viable. Of the alternatives to castration an insider I'm in touch with has suggested, re-introduction to the wild was the one I have the biggest problem with. Surplus males (reply to Pertinax and Yassa) There are a few of such groups in Europe, but I am not sure if the males are already old enough to evaluate if these groups are more stable and peaceful. I think it`s also worth to find out if male groups work better when the males are related - for example a silverback and serveral sons, or brothers. I strongly feel that zoos need to solve the surplus male problem on their own, and because there is no ideal solution, I guess a mix of birth control for the most overrepresented lines, castration and keeping family groups small with no more then 2 adult females is the way to go. If I remember right they don`t even want to breed from their gorillas (and chimps) because of a lack of space.
DO ALL MALE GORILLAS BECOME SILVERBACKS HOW TO
These already have their own "surplus male" problem! Limbe for example has many young males and as far as I know, no solution yet how to deal with them once they reach maturity. Wildlife centers/ sanctuaries in Africa aren`t the solution, either. I can`t see that that is preferable to euthanasia or castration. Releasing surplus males from western zoos to the wild will simply mean that a LOT of them will just die there (after a lot of stress). Young males from zoos can`t do a thing to fill the void that a shortage of silverbacks (if such should exist) leave in a wild population. If a population has a shortage of males, the mortality of the blackbacks and silverbacks will go down and the problem is solved. Their life is much more dangerous then that of a female who has a stable home range, no fights to fight and the protection of a whole family. The "surplus problem" in the wild is solved not just by many males living solitary, but als by the high death rates of lone males. Second, introducing males into a local population will lead to a surplus of males there, and that will lead to increased fights between silverbacks with a family and the lone males, which will lead to the death of males and infants alike. That`s not a "cheap and easy" solution, but rather the opposite. If you want to do it right, you need not just the infrastructure to prepare them for a life in the wild, but also a longterm monitoring program. I am totally against bringing surplus males back to Africa.įirst, as Pertinax has pointed out, it`s time consuming and very expensive.
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