#statisticalcats gorillas

[statisticalcats2]

Umande in this structure giving me flashbacks to being a kid and hanging out in the door section at Menards

Mosi preferred to rest indoors and was looking very comfy and relaxed

[gorilla info post]

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Susie at Columbus Zoo had her baby! I've never visited Columbus and have not met Susie but she's the daughter of Jojo, a pretty legendary silverback who I knew during his time at Brookfield Zoo, and Bahati, who lives at Lincoln Park Zoo. Jojo sadly passed away in 2022. This baby is Susie's first and the first grandchild of both Jojo and Bahati.

[gorilla family info sheet]

[statisticalcats2]

The world's lost a legend

Winston, the family silverback at San Diego Zoo Safari Park has passed away at 52 years old. He was one of the oldest male gorillas in the world. Winston's a pretty legendary figure, he was a fantastic silverback and stood out as being extremely patient but with strong standing in his position. There were two young males in his troop that have since been separated but it was generally agreed that they would have been "kicked out" quite a bit earlier if they were in a troop with any other silverback. Winston had the patience of a saint! But he wasn't a pushover either and had a firm, respected position in his troop even in his elderly years.

He really did live quite a long time, I've heard through the grapevine that the zoo has actually already had plans set for what silverback to move in when he passed and that's been a plan made almost a decade ago! Connected to that, I want to give a shout-out to San Diego Zoo Safari Park for how much they've cared for Winston. A few years ago he actually caught Covid and the zoo did all they could for him, expending resources to treat him and it stood out to me because he was already elderly and from what I've heard the grapevine he'd already lived longer than they expected and they already had plans for when he passed, so it stood out to me that despite that, they did all that to treat Winston's sickness. It showed the great care the zoo has for their animals. Not every zoo would do the same and I'm very glad Winston was so loved and cared for in his life there.

Fun fact about Winston: If you're thinking he looks familiar but can't place why, perhaps you've seen the 2017 movie War for the Planet of the Apes. The design for the character Red was based off of Winston!

[statisticalcats2]

Hello Nyah! I can't wait to get to know you! 💙

[my gorilla family info post]

[statisticalcats2]

Wonderful news from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo! It's looking optimistic that this is it, that Jameela has found her family!

[statisticalcats2]

Time to update my gorilla family info sheet! Lincoln Park has a new arrival! 11-year-old female Nyah, originally from Buffalo Zoo. She'll be joining the family troop led by Kwan. I can't wait to meet and get to know her! Welcome to the family, Nyah!

Buffalo Zoo is one of the last AZA zoos to not have an outdoor habitat for their gorillas. In her new home at Lincoln Park, Nyah gets to be outside and she's already enjoyed her new opportunity!

(Photos from Lincoln Park Zoo's social media)

[statisticalcats2]

Anyway, the habitat made pictures impossible but I visited Azizi in his new home today! He looks really good and when the troop settled down for nap time the girls made sure to be near him 💙

[gorilla family info sheet]

[statisticalcats2]

(CW: Gorilla death)

Gonna have to make a sad edit to my gorilla family cheat sheet 🙁

Bana was euthanized around March 26, 2024 after being diagnosed with congestive cardiac failure and bronchopneumonia on March 8 and 15. Zoo staff had been working to stabilize her (a full recovery wouldn't have been possible at all) but her health took a sharp decline that led them to make the tough decision to euthanize her. She was 29 years old, which could be considered around middle aged for a gorilla.

This is only the third time I've experienced the loss of a gorilla I would visit often, and the first that was living at what I consider my "main zoo", the one I volunteer at weekly. She had a juvenile son, Djeke, who is thankfully old enough that losing his mother shouldn't mean strong danger for his chances of a successful life.

Something interesting I hadn't known was that Bana was the highest-ranking female at the time of her death. The last I had gotten confirmation from anyone with more consistent knowledge of the group structure, Rollie was the highest-ranking female. But I had known Bana was interested in gaining rank but had several years of not being successful at climbing any higher. At some point that apparently changed, so, good for you, Bana! You'll be so missed.

Here's one of my favorite pictures I've taken of Bana, from 2018

[my gorilla family cheat sheet]

[statisticalcats2]

I was disappointed yesterday because only the older boys were out, including in the indoor habitat, so I didn't get to see Zachary, who was half of the reason for our trip. We decided to make a shorter visit to the zoo again today after we checked out of the hotel, and almost still decided against it because both parking lots were full, we had to go to the extended parking lot which we'd have to walk further for (and then of course there'd be crowds) and we almost decided to just not do it but we did and I'm sooooo glad we did! Look!

Zachary was out today!!!! This was the first time I've seen him since he left Brookfield Zoo! (Zachary is on the left, on the right is Kayin, who is originally from Buffalo Zoo.)

I was so happy to see him again and to see him doing well! I also ran into and got to have a chat with my "gorilla contact" who frequents Saint Louis Zoo so that was nice freywiduhosia

I'm so happy we stuck with it and didn't give up on visiting the zoo again today before we left for home.

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[Cheat sheet for my gorilla family]

[statisticalcats2]

Updated my gorilla cheat sheet. Patty now lives at Philadelphia Zoo!

[statisticalcats2]

Nadami really likes Azizi 💙

I'm so happy he's doing so well so far in his new home!

[gorilla family cheat sheet]

[statisticalcats2]

Gorilla Azizi update: Azizi and the family group are now in the indoor habitat daily! During the initial few hours in the habitat, Azizi "patrolled," looking for any threats the space could pose for the females. He then settled in and took a nap, but always kept a protective eye on Dotty and Nadami. When Azizi first had access to the habitat, he took his time going in and eventually Dotty went to get him, showing that the group is "very solid and tight knit." (Milwaukee County Zoo)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA look at him! He's doing so good! And the girls like him! 😭

[my gorilla family cheat sheet]

[statisticalcats2]

Fort Worth Zoo has hit a bit of a hurdle in Jameela's rearing because the female they had hoped would be a surrogate mother for her just isn't interested enough so they're now focusing on another female in the troop.

There are people commenting on the above update making comments about like giving Jameela to Zookeeper Chad which is super annoying but there is a special type of humor in seeing this when I'm still so sure that Fort Worth Zoo had a subtle, plausibly deniable dig at Zookeeper Chad and Mogo Zoo in one of their initial posts about hand-rearing Jameela fgyeuiud

Anyway, the keepers at Fort Worth Zoo are doing great for Jameela and I have no additional worry for her future.

[statisticalcats2]

Updated my gorilla cheat sheet because Azizi has now moved zoos! It was announced today that his new home is Milwaukee County Zoo which I actually predicted was where he was going because I have crazy gorilla knowledge gfyiwuhedw

He's moving in with two females and Milwaukee says he's a good genetic match for them so hopefully there will be babies in the future!

[statisticalcats2]

I don't know if Umande recognizes me at all from my frequent visits but it was really funny, him coming up so close to the glass in front of me. I haven't made it to the zoo in 3 weeks, it's like he was going "where have you been?"

Second picture is not a zoom in, that's how close he was to the window and my phone camera!

(He did look more directly at me several times. Gorillas naturally don't hold eye contact lightly, it's seen as a challenge and being confrontational.)

[statisticalcats2]

"Mshindi's older than Nayembi's father!"

Yes, but have you considered:

(Nayembi particularly loves food too, this is a perfect match gfyeiwuhd)