Year of the Gorilla…baby!

The Aspinall Foundation – Howletts & Port Lympne Update

2009 is shaping up to be another exciting year for gorilla births at Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks. With several pregnant females across both parks, keepers are expecting a number of babies to be born over the coming months.

In 2008 the Port Lympne Gorilla section welcomed two new babies to their group. Tiya, the first infant born in February, was rejected by her mother and had to be hand reared by keepers. In July, she was part of a group of three hand-reared infants to be returned to their native homeland in Gabon as part of the well-established and highly successful gorilla re-education and reintroduction program being run by The Aspinall Foundation in Congo and Gabon.

While the second baby ‘Louna’ may never have the opportunity to return to his native homeland, as he is part of a stable family group and being raised by his mother FouFou, he is nevertheless an important part of the 75-strong group of gorillas at Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks. The parks hold the largest number of captive gorillas anywhere in the world, and visitors can easily observe them indulging in their natural behaviours.

The End of an Era

Here at the parks we are always excited to announce the birth of new animals, especially when they are species that are difficult to breed in captivity, or are rare in the wild. Unfortunately we sometimes must also mourn the losses of these amazing animals. In late 2008, keepers at Howletts Wild Animal Park were dismayed to learn that the male silverback ‘Kijo’ had passed away suddenly. Kijo was the very first gorilla born at the parks back in 1975, and so held a very important place in the hearts of the park staff. He sired 24 young during his 33 years and so has left an important legacy in the captive breeding pool at our parks.

‘Good News’ in Gabon

The Aspinall Foundation, is the charity that not only oversees Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks in Kent, but also runs two rehabilitation and reintroduction projects in the Central African countries of Congo and Gabon. These reintroduction projects, with the specific aim of re-establishing viable, self-sustaining populations within former gorilla habitat, have been surprisingly successful in terms of survival (more than eighty percent) adaptation to forest life, and reproduction. The latest birth at the Gabon site brings the total number of successful births to eight since 2004. This newest addition to the Gabon group has been named ‘Antsia’, meaning ‘good news’ in the local dialect.

Tagged as: Aspinall Foundation, Howletts Wild Animal Park, Port Lympne Animal Park