Orphan Gorillas to Receive New Life
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Four rare orphaned Western Lowland Gorillas — Tinu, Izan, Oyin and Abbey — were flown Thursday night from South Africa to a new home at a wildlife sanctuary in Cameroon after a 5 year international scuffle. They are set to arrive Friday after an 18 hour journey. “They seemed fine as they emerged from that initial sedation, and were to lightly tranquilized again before the flight.” said Christina Pretorius of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Two of the 4 Taiping gorillas at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa in Pretoria, Wednesday, November 28, 2007. Photo AP / Denis Farrell
Dubbed the Taiping Four — 3 females and 1 male, all aged 6 — were smuggled as young animals to Taiping Zoo in Malaysia, via South Africa, using forged documents in 2002. The gorillas were consequently confiscated by the Malaysian Government and sent for safe keeping to South Africa at Pretoria’s zoo in 2004.
South African officials conceded earlier this year after first claiming that under international law they should remain where they were as there was uncertainty to their true origin.
“These animals have become the poster children of the ugly side of the trade in endangered wildlife.” said Pretorius, her voice choked with emotion. “They have really caught the international imagination.”
“Africa’s wildlife is disappearing from the earth right in front of our eyes,” she said. “The return of the Taiping Four sends a clear message that Africa’s wildlife is worth fighting for and that international law must be upheld.”
One of the 4 Taiping gorillas at the National Zoological Gardens of
South Africa in Pretoria. Photo AP / Denis Farrell
Their circumstances as infants remains unknown, but they were likely victims of the bush meat trade where adult gorillas are killed for meat and their young taken to sell. At least 4 of 5 young die before they receive proper care.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species protects gorillas from capture, killing or export, yet the appalling trade carries on. It’s believed that less than 100,000 Western Lowland gorillas remain in the wild in West Africa. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature recently upgraded their status from endangered to critically endangered, as a result of being hunted, killed and captured for commercial use.
One of the 4 Taiping gorillas at the National Zoological Gardens of
South Africa in Pretoria. Photo AP / Denis Farrell
The gorillas were all tested and declared free of disease and will be kept at the Limbe Wildlife Center sanctuary, which has a successful record in rehabilitating orphans. They will remain under quarantine for several months while they acclimatize.
Limbe staff spent the past several weeks at the Pretoria zoo to get used to the animals and 2 Pretoria zoo staff will accompany the gorillas to Cameroon to make sure they settle in, said Pretorius.
“They are sociable animals and you can’t just release 4 adolescent animals into a family group. They have to adapt.” said Pretorius, whose organization helped meet the costs of the relocation. Kenya Airways flew the gorillas for free from Johannesburg, and the zoo said it would cover all the medical costs.
Silverback gorilla
The Western Lowland Gorilla primarily lives in mountainous regions, secondary forests and lowland swamps throughout all or parts of Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
The Western Lowland Gorilla can be brown or grayish with a reddish forehead. Those that live in lowland forests are more slender and agile than the more bulky Mountain gorilla. A male Western Lowland Gorilla can stand 6 feet tall and weigh about 450 pounds (205 kilos).
They live in family groupings consisting of one dominant male, 5 to 7 adult females, children and adolescents, and possibly a few non-dominant males.
Adult male Gorillas are prone to degenerative heart disease. Babec, a Western Lowland Gorilla at the Birmingham Zoo in Alabama was the first gorilla to receive an artificial pacemaker.
Nearly all gorillas share the same blood type and have individual finger prints just as humans do.
A silverback is an adult male gorilla, typically more than 12 years of age and named for the distinctive patch of silver hair on his back. Black backs are sexually mature males of up to 11 years of age.
Silverbacks are the strong, dominant troop leaders. Each typically leads a troop of 5 to 30 gorillas and is the center of the troop’s attention, making all the decisions, mediating conflicts, determining the movements of the group, leading the others to feeding sites and taking responsibility for the safety and well-being of the troop. Younger blackback males may serve as backup protection.
Males will gradually leave their troop at about 11 years of age, traveling alone or with a group of other males for 2 to 5 years before being able to attract females to form a new group and begin breeding. Infant gorillas typically remain with their mother for 3 to 4 years, but silverbacks will care for weaned young orphans, though never to the extent of carrying them.
If challenged by a younger or even by an outsider male, a silverback will scream, beat his chest, break branches, bare his teeth, then charge forward. Sometimes a younger male in the group can take over leadership from an old male. If the leader is killed by disease, accident, fighting or poachers, the group will split up, as the animals disperse to look for a new protective male. Rarely, a group might be taken over in its entirety by another male. There is a strong risk that the new male may kill the infants of the dead silverback.
A gorilla’s lifespan is between 30 to 50 years.
Sources: Yahoo News, Times Online and Wikipedia
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beautiful photos Deborah…
they look so human….
here’s hoping their new home will harbour a positive future for them…
OK Deb, I can see you’ll never stop monkeying around with animal stories. It’s not that I think you’ve gone banana’s or anything, I guess it’s just a passion for you. I must admit, I like them too.
Ahhh, they’re beautiful creatures, Kim. Their future sounds much more positive for them now that it has for the past 5 years.
Haha, I don’t think it’s any small surprise by now that I definitely have a passion for our world’s creatures and animals Nitropuppy
how sweet, i hope they can easily adopt with their new surronding.
They have a much better chance now, Faxless.
Are they able to get used to the life there? Can they adapt? I really hope they do…