Until the s, many thousands of gorillas died in attempts to capture young animals for zoos. However, the baby was raised by humans, not by its mother. In zoos, gorillas frequently reject their young: they do not let them nurse and may even mistreat them. In these cases, the infants are bottle-fed. Most gorillas living in zoos today have been born in captivity. At the end of , gorillas lived in zoos, of which had been born in captivity. Towards the end of , gorillas living in zoos were registered in the International Gorilla Studbook; more than of them had been born in captivity.
The way gorillas are kept in zoos has much improved over the last few decades. Observations of wild gorillas have made a significant contribution to these improvements.
Whereas the gorilla social structure can be emulated well in zoos, it is almost impossible to produce living conditions that resemble those in their natural habitat. Even so, when designing their enclosures, their needs can be taken into consideration. Sometimes he breaks off branches and shakes them at the intruder. It is an awesome display! A female gorilla is ready to have babies of her own when she is about eight years old. But first, she must leave the safety of her own troop and find another troop or a lone silverback to live with.
The tiny infants only weigh a few pounds at birth, and the mother is generally over pounds 91 kilograms , so the births are quick and easy.
A newborn grows quickly. At five to six months old it learns to walk, and by 18 months of age it can follow Mom on foot for short distances. Still, the safest place for the youngster is its mother's back as she travels through the dense vegetation of their forest home. Young gorillas learn by imitating what the others in the troop are doing and by play fighting with other youngsters. Even the stern silverbacks are gentle with the little ones as they practice new skills. A young gorilla stays close to its mom, sharing her nest, until it is four to six years old.
Gorillas have been known to nurse for up to three years. Gorillas have no natural enemies or predators, yet these peaceful creatures are at critical risk because of humans.
People hunt gorillas for food called bushmeat, and logging and mining companies destroy gorilla habitat. The recent armed conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has caused refugees to pour into previous gorilla habitat. Disease epidemics such as the Ebola virus have recently decimated gorilla populations that were previously considered secure within their natural habitat. The past 15 years have seen a dramatic decline in gorilla population size, with almost half of the entire eastern gorilla population suspected to have been wiped out.
Illegal hunting has become a lucrative activity in the region. While hunters often lay snares targeting other mammals, sadly, many gorillas die or lose limbs after being accidentally ensnared. An illegal pet trade is also on the rise. According to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums WAZA , zoos are great places to show people about the natural world and the need for conservation is. It is also affirmed that most species live longer in captivity, since they do not lack food and do not have to face predators.
But as you can guess, not everyone is agree with these arguments. The life of a gorilla in controlled facilities is not ideal, of course, because they are not pets. Many captive gorillas, including Koko, are obese because they can consume more food.
Some subspecies have adapted to other kind of food in captivity. It is believed that mountain gorillas, cannot be successfully maintained in captivity because their specific feeding, based almost exclusively on foliage.
Attempts in recent years have ended in sick or dead gorillas. Additionally there are several ethical dilemmas. The great apes are very intelligent creatures with characteristics similar to people. In the s and s, numerous attempts were made to capture live mountain gorillas and start a captive population. Many adult mountain gorillas were killed to obtain live babies, none of which survived in captivity.
The reason why they failed to survive is unclear, since lowland gorillas have been kept and even bred successfully in captivity. Perhaps their dietary needs are more specific, or they were affected by stress and therefore succumbed to disease more rapidly. To date, no mountain gorillas are known to exist in any captive facility.
All the gorillas in zoos are lowland gorillas. Most of them are actually western lowland gorillas. Only a small number of people 8 people per gorilla group can visit the gorillas each day, so it is important to book gorilla permits well in advance.
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