backbackMy favorite animal in the zoo is the Gorilla. Maybe it's because they are so much like us than I spend a lot of time just watching them.
Gorillas, the largest and most powerful of all living primates, are peaceful and sociable animals. They live in the highlands and forests of central Africa in groups of 3 to 30 individuals. Lowland and mountain gorillas are endangered, due to poaching, deforestation and loss of habitat. There are currently nine gorillas in the Calgary Zoo troop, ranging in age from 6 months to 25 years.
Kakinga (age 17) is the silver back, dominant male, of the troop.
He can easily be identified by his large size and the silver-tipped
hair on his back. He has fathered four sons over the past three
years via three different females: Tabitha, Julia and Donge.
Tabitha is the mother of Mbundi who is almost 3
years old. Being the only mother without a baby at the
moment, she seems to like holding the other babies
when she gets a chance. I saw her take Nkofi away
from Ntondo on the weekend. Julia didn't seem to
mind too much, but she did keep a close eye on what
was going on.
Julia, 25 years old, is the mother of
Ntondo (1 month younger than Mbundi)
and Nkofi (6 months old). Ntondo like to
play with his younger brother. He often
grabs him, swings him up onto his back
and takes off for a walk or goes over to
bug his friend Mbundi. He even lies on his
back and tosses him around a bit. Nkofi
seems to like the attention.
Donge is Nsabi's mother and she's a first-time
mother. She learned a lot from Julia and Tabitha
when Ntondo and Mbundi were younger. Nsabi
is about 10 months old. Donge is the youngest
and the smallest of the females and ranked quite
low on the totem pole until she became a mother.
Utundu is an adult male of 11 years is kept separate from the rest of the troop to simulate wild conditions. In the wild, males of his age usually drift away from the troop after conflict with the resident silverback. He is scheduled to be moved to another zoo next year to begin a new breeding group. He is pretty intelligent. One day I saw him grab hold of a 4 foot high post of the electric fence, careful not to touch the wires, and gracefully leap over it. I think he might have been trying to get away from the crowd.
The two three year olds spend a lot of time playing and wrestling with each other.
Gorillas like to explore and learn. They are intelligent and can find innovative ways of getting at food that the zookeepers hide in weird shaped containers. Periodically, their outdoor compound gets re-designed to offer them a change of scenery and a chance for new exploration. They are a lot of fun to watch.
96-09-26
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