Morning News: Rare Baby Gorilla Born in D.C.

re: Morning News: Rare Baby Gorilla Born in D.C.

Shannon LC Cate — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:12:15 GMT

Thanks, Nancy!

I love that we did in fact find a gorilla keeper out there reading Strollerderby!

re: Morning News: Rare Baby Gorilla Born in D.C.

Effective Nancy — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:50:45 GMT

As a former gorilla keeper, I can tell you that contraception is widely used as part of the management of the species in captivity. It's not a question of spacing for an individual mother or even for a troop, but there are considerations of both capacity (per Embo) and, even more pertinently, genetic diversity.

With uncontrolled breeding, certain animals, particularly males, would be overrepresented in the population. Therefore it's crucial to let more animals have the opportunity to breed to keep the population as a whole strong and healthy. This is a relatively recent practice; Shannon, if you go to, for instance, Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, fully half of the gorillas there are children or grandchildren of Frank, a silverback who only recently passed away in Louisville. I think they have a display there with a family tree showing those relationships.

re: Morning News: Rare Baby Gorilla Born in D.C.

maeby — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:59:13 GMT

awww love the last pic. so cute!

Thanks for posting Shannon!

re: Morning News: Rare Baby Gorilla Born in D.C.

Shannon LC Cate — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:25:23 GMT

sash--No need to rebrand. I'm happy to straddle both controversial dead baby news AND feel-good baby gorilla news.

Both are true.

re: Morning News: Rare Baby Gorilla Born in D.C.

sash — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:47:52 GMT

well as long as you posted it for the feel-good news and not as an attempt to re-brand yourself after the controversial dead baby post. but that's what is so great about this stream of consciousness dialogue with the news as its happening blo-format ....

re: Morning News: Rare Baby Gorilla Born in D.C.

Embo — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:27:40 GMT

re: giving the gorilla BC pills. I'm not a zoologist, but worked in zoos as a young adult. My guess is that although the gorillas may be endangered, the population at this zoo may be overcrowded. Or, they wanted to mate the mom with another male. Networks of zoos usually have detailed plans for mating endangered species. They may have wanted to mate a pair that would bring the greatest diversity to the gene pool. Since zoos have such limited resources, it may have taken years to get the right male and the right female in the right place at the right time.