#statisticalcats gorillas

[statisticalcats2]

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)

[statisticalcats2]

StatisticalCats' gorilla family

Notes: There are other gorillas I talk about but these are the main ones. These are the gorillas from the troops in my two "local" zoos that I visit frequently.

To have even a little bit of simplification, I am only listing parents and offspring if they're one of "my" gorillas and only listing siblings if they have lived/are living together and are one of "my" gorillas.

Parents, siblings, and offspring are the only relationships I'll list, but some named gorillas have other types of relation or are even related in multiple ways with others. I'm just going for as simplified as this very unsimple thing can be fiuhwd

I will be including some gorillas who are now deceased.

Brookfield Zoo

Ramar (M) Born: 1968 Died: April 2018 Offspring: Kamba Info: Born in the wild and raised in the entertainment industry. Ramar was one of the lucky few animals in the industry whose handlers weren't violent with them. When Ramar reached adulthood, his handler realized he should be with other gorillas in a more suitable environment and Ramar was moved into zoo life. He went through several zoos without much success in fully meshing with a troop (likely a negative consequence of his upbringing away from other gorillas) before reaching Brookfield Zoo where he finally settled well enough with a troop to even father children. Ramar led the troop from 1998 to 2012, spending the remaining years "in retirement."

Jojo (M) Born: April 1980 Died: July 2022 Offspring: Azizi, Nora, Zachary, Ali Info: Jojo was born and spent many years of his life at my other frequented zoo, Lincoln Park Zoo, though the last time he lived there was before I started visiting. Jojo was quite famous inside the US zoo community, known for his excellent leadership skills. He had a unique stern look that would catch people's eye and pictures of him have featured on branded vodka bottles, book covers for the Tarzan novel, and even on a background poster in the popular tv show New Girl!

Jontu (M) Born: January 1997 (adult) Info: I first met Jontu when he was living in a bachelor troop at Saint Louis Zoo. After Jojo's passing, Jontu was chosen to move to Brookfield and become the troop's new silverback, arriving in Febrary 2023. While this is his first time leading a family troop, he was the dominant male in his bachelor troop so he has some leadership experience, though I don't know how prepared anyone could be for the strong-willed Brookfield girls! The girls love him (other than Binti who just vaguely co-exists with him but that's how she was with Jojo too) and he's settled well into the troop.

Binti Jua (F) Born: March 1988 (adult) Offspring: Koola Info: Gained fame outside of the zoo community in 1996 when she rescued a little boy who fell into the gorilla habitat. Binti's been the lowest ranking of the troop since Jojo's years, at least partially through her own choice. I've been told how many children Brookfield was hoping Jojo would father and the number makes me think they expected him to father children with Binti. That never happened which is likely by her own decision. Binti seems to have had enough with the social politics of troops and is content to stay out of the ranking and just live her life.

Koola (F) Born: February 1995 (adult) Parent: Binti Jua Offspring: Kamba, Nora, Zachary Info: Koola is the highest ranking female and actively maintains her position. If I understand things right she's held her rank since Ramar's years of leadership, she is dedicated. She's strong-willed and assertive. She actually helped Jontu to learn the schedules and procedures of his new home!

Kamba (F) Born: September 2004 (adult) Parents: Ramar and Koola Maternal siblings: Nora, Ali Offspring: Zachary Info: Kamba's lower ranking but seems to be actively trying to gain rank.

Nora (F) Born: November 2013 (adult) Parents: Jojo and Koola Maternal sibling: Kamba Paternal sibling: Zachary Full sibling: Ali Info: Nora's a very interesting personality because she's dealt with anxiety since even before the pandemic shaking things up, but she's also inherited her mother's strong will and assertiveness. She's actually actively taken rank over her older sister Kamba since Jontu's arrival. Possibly even before, as I can remember visiting after Jojo's passing but before Jontu's arrival and noticing Nora "taking charge" in interactions quite a bit! I'm very curious if in the future she'll reach even higher and try to take the highest rank from her mom who has held it for around 20 years! She loves wood wool and often hogs as much of it as she can to nest with.

Ali (F) Born: June 2018 (juvenile) Parents: Jojo and Koola Maternal sibling: Kamba Paternal sibling: Zachary Full sibling: Nora Info: Ali's the only juvenile of the troop and still has her white spot on her bottom to prove it! She's a bit of a troublemaker and loves to play with both gorillas and enrichment items including food! Also a little fun fact: I quite possibly witnessed Ali being conceived lmao

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Lincoln Park Zoo

Family troop

Kwan (M) Born: March 1989 (adult) Offspring: Amare, Patty, Nayembi, Bella, Mondika, Djeke Info: Kwan grew up as the only juvenile in his troop, something that was possibly reflected in his first step into fatherhood with Amare. Amare was known to basically be allowed to do whatever he wanted. Kwan did get better at being a parent as he had more kids. He's very child-oriented and seems to see all of his kids as being equal instead of varying in rank. While there is a highest ranking female in the troop, Kwan seems to consider all the kids to be the next rank after himself. Kwan used to have a noticeable problem with the outdoors, not liking to be outside and being nervous when any of his troop was outside. He would often start displaying and trying to herd everyone back inside within 10 minutes of anyone being outdoors. He's gotten over this nervousness about the outdoors and now no one would ever guess he used to have such a problem with it!

Bahati (F) Born: September 1990 (adult) Paternal sibling: Rollie Offspring: Bella Info: Not very interested in social politics but has ended up with a higher rank more often than not anyway because life is weird.

Bana (F) Born: March 1995 Died: March 2024 Offspring: Patty, Djeke Info: Tends to be the lowest ranking but active in trying to gain a higher rank. She's a very good and protective mother. She successfully gained rank and was the highest-ranking female until her death in March 2024.

Rollie (F) Born: October 1996 (adult) Paternal sibling: Bahati Maternal sibling: Amare Offspring: Nayembi, Mondika Info: Highest ranking female and active in maintaining her position. She loves food even more than the average gorilla, her biography on display in the zoo even describes her as "very food-oriented"! More of a hands-off mother than troopmate Bana, it's been very interesting seeing such different styles of parenting happening right next to each other. My perception of her is that she's very attractive by gorilla standards, I've heard that Kwan fell in love with her at first sight and she has other family members that seem to show a trend of such things, a whole family of gorgeous gorillas!

Nyah (F) Born: September 2013 (adult) Info: Originally from Buffalo Zoo. Moved to Lincoln Park Zoo in September 2024.

Bella (F) Born: February 2015 (juvenile/teen) Parents: Kwan and Bahati Paternal siblings: Patty, Nayembi, Mondika, Djeke Info: Bella liked her independence from an early age but had an interesting phase when her younger brothers were born where she seemed to get jealous about no longer being the baby of the troop. She started napping and resting cuddled up to mom again after years of sleeping on her own and even tried to nurse again. She's since adapted to the change though and has become a good big sister!

Mondika (M) Born: May 2019 (juvenile) Parents: Kwan and Rollie Paternal siblings: Patty, Bella, Djeke Full sibling: Nayembi Info: He was born on Mother's Day which was really exciting!

Djeke (M) Born: June 2019 (juvenile) Parents: Kwan and Bana Full sibling: Patty Paternal siblings: Nayembi, Bella, Mondika Info: He and Mondika were born exactly a month apart and are very close. In some ways they're like twins because of how close they were born.

Bachelor troop

Amare (M) Born: July 2005 (adult) Parent: Kwan Maternal sibling: Rollie Paternal siblings: Patty, Nayembi Info: Amare was basically allowed to do whatever he wanted by his parents growing up which had interesting effects when the bachelor troop was formed and he was among them. In some ways Azizi had to do some fast-track parenting despite being only less than 2 years older than Amare. Amare's had some nervous characteristics but also actively tries to gain rank. He's been the lowest ranking for a time, I'm unsure where exactly he's at now. In an interesting turn of events he's seemed to switch tactics from directly challenging the highest ranking bachelor to instead playing nice and (re)befriending him!

Umande (M) Born: February 2006 (adult) Info: My special guy! The first time I visited Lincoln Park Zoo I was expecting to get most attached to Azizi because of his relation to the Brookfield troop who had been the only ones I knew at that point. But Umande really stole the attention my first visit, he actually came right up to my sister and I and knocked at the window like "Hey! Don't pay attention to Azizi, pay attention to me!" He tends to be the most visible of the bachelors and spends a lot of time by the windows. He's been a huge show-off but he's settled down some over the years. He challenges the other boys quite a bit but it's hard to tell if he genuinely wants to gain rank or just likes causing trouble! He's the gorilla that I suspect actually remembers and recognizes me from my frequent visits, which is why I call him my special guy!

Mosi (M) Born: October 2006 (adult) Info: Mosi is currently the highest ranking and actively maintains his position. It was really surprising when I learned he had overtaken Azizi! I do think it means something that it was Mosi that Azizi stepped down to, I think he would have fought harder the whole time if it had been either of the other two. Mosi has a friendly and gentle nature and has kind of been the peacemaker of the troop since it's formation. I remember when he was the smallest of the troop but he's now actually the biggest! And boy is he big! He has very long limbs too, he can leave you stunned when he's standing and that's just down on all fours. He's so big that the zoo actually called his former zoo to ask if they had expected him to grow so big, it was a shock to Lincoln Park!

Saint Louis Zoo

Zachary (M) Originally from: Brookfield Zoo Born: September 2015 (juvenile/teen) Parents: Jojo and Kamba Paternal siblings: Nora, Ali Info: Zachary was moved to Saint Louis Zoo in an exchange where Jontu was moved to Brookfield. Zachary's at an age where it could have caused problems with a new silverback for him to still be in the troop. I had been pretty concerned for him when it happened because even though he was an older juvenile he was still quite a mama's boy and he would be moving to a troop with two grown adult males. If Jojo hadn't passed away Zachary would have probably been living in his natal troop for at least a couple more years. Thankfully he's doing well in his new home, especially after being joined by another young male of a similar age! The two aren't yet living with the two older males, but they're getting along great with each other. Brookfield Zoo is one of the very few remaining AZA accredited zoos that has no outdoor habitat for their gorillas (which will thankfully change come 2025!) so this move introduced Zachary to the outdoors for the first time! I've been so happy to see pictures and videos of him outside!

Detroit Zoo

Nayembi (F) Originally from: Lincoln Park Zoo Born: November 2012 (adult) Parents: Kwan and Rollie Paternal siblings: Amare, Patty, Bella, Djeke Full sibling: Mondika Info: When Nayembi was an infant she suffered a major facial injury that required her to be removed from her troop and receive surgery. She was hand-reared by keepers for a time as she healed and was thankfully able to be successfully reintegrated with her troop, including her mother. Her past injury is noticeable but doesn't impede her in any way! She's quite rambunctious and has inherited her mom's love for food. It was really common to see her gather up an insane amount of food. I've witnessed Kwan have to get involved sometimes because she would even steal from her siblings. (She was theoretically higher-ranking than her siblings but this was an example of how Kwan seems to consider his children an equal rank.) I was surprised she was moved out before Patty, she's always been the less mature of the two. From what I've seen she's doing very well in her new home though! She gets along with the silverback Mshindi and is socially savvy enough to defer to the other females for now.

Milwaukee County Zoo

Azizi (M) Born: December 2003 (adult) Parent: Jojo Info: Azizi was the highest ranking of the Lincoln Park bachelor troop from the very start. He has a naturally dominant personality that he inherited from his dad and I've heard that he started practicing silverback responsibilities like looking out for the troop's safety from an early age. The years shook things up though and he was no longer the highest ranking by the time he moved out, though he would still try to gain his rank back. He inherited Jojo's severe facial features (my sister often jokes that Azizi looks more like Jojo than Jojo did!) The shortest and smallest of the bachelors but still over 400 pounds. He has uniquely short legs that barely reach past his belly when he's sitting with them extended! He moved to Milwaukee County Zoo in January 2024 to lead a troop of two females!

Louisville Zoo

Patty (F) Born: October 2012 (adult) Parents: Kwan and Bana Paternal siblings: Amare, Nayembi, Bella, Mondika Full sibling: Djeke Info: "Little Miss Mom". She's a very good babysitter to her younger siblings. She's very smart and mastered the voluntary memory and pattern-recognition tests faster than any of the other gorillas. I had actually assumed she would be the first of the older daughters to leave the troop but ended up being wrong. She was moved to Philadephia Zoo in April 2024, however things didn't work out there and she was moved again in July 2024 to Louisville Zoo.