Hello All,
As you know, we have been diligently, systematically and patiently working on some very involved reconfigurations of our gorilla groups since the passing of mother, Anju, this winter. You may recall, Anju died from an insidious, congenital and unrepairable heart valve defect, leaving an orphaned two-year-old behind, Elle. At two years old, Elle really needed a surrogate to help her navigate her way in Jomo’s dynamic group that included some large tougher personalities. Over the past six months, we have successfully found Elle a sponsor in female Mara to help reintegrate her one by one back with the other members. Basically, we had to deconstruct the group and slowly build it back around Elle.
As the final part of Elle’s group’s reconfiguring, we needed to add her sister Mona back. Important for Mona’s development to be around her sisters and have the leadership of a silverback in Jomo. However, Mona’s mother Asha’s large personality did not mesh the best with the new group’s cohesiveness. Fortunately, Mona no longer required nutrition from Asha at almost four years old and was very content to hang out nearby Jomo’s group in the bedroom playland areas while Asha enjoyed the habitats on her own with lots of good reinforcement. We were able to carefully expand their time apart over a couple of months off and on so it became normal to them both. This allowed Mona to be transferred in tiers to Elle’s new group reuniting her with Jomo, Samantha, Gladys, Mlinzi along with new member Mara. Making this a wonderfully unique and very special group of three young sisters, three adult female surrogate “nannies” and a great leader/ super-dad in Jomo. Jomo will now be the happiest pop around on Father’s Day this Sunday.
Long road for little Elle, Mona and all but so far this newest version is working quite well. So much that they made their soft debut today in the indoor habitat. They will now be rotated through the two habitats and in the new large bedroom playlands randomly. Should be out most mornings initially over the next couple weeks if you’re interested. Attached a photo of Jomo resting contently with a big ball of Mona and Elle playing nearby.
Amazing work by the gorilla keepers to maintain the focus and flexibility needed to see this project through. An incredibly knowledgeable, progressive and dedicated team.
Asha, now being a new available “single lady with her hand up,” will be looking for a new boyfriend in Mshindi along with Chewie. As with any gorilla introduction, patience is the key. No timeline on when Mshindi’s new group will be complete. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, thanks and Happy Father’s Day to Jomo and all the dad’s in the big CZBG family group.
Make a difference and have some fun along the way.
Ron Evans
Curator of Primates