The North Carolina Zoo is one of the best safe havens for geriatric gorillas in the United States. Before a recent tragedy, the Forest Glade exhibit here at the NC Zoo was home to four adult gorillas.
The death of one of three female gorillas has shaken the hearts of the staff that spend their days caring for the giant creatures. Hope was 35 years old, and among many afflictions, suffered from blindness, uterine cancer and high blood pressure. Due to the recent deterioration of her health, staff at the NC Zoo had to make the difficult decision to euthanize her.
Robyn Rousseau, one the primary caretakers of the zoo’s gorillas, says that it was a very difficult decision to make. She says that the animals become like family after spending every day with them. After working with them for so long it is tragic to have to make such a heart breaking decision.
The average life span for a gorilla in captivity is about half that of a human. When gorillas reach their 40s they are considered to be old. At 35, Hope’s death, though somewhat expected, is still hard to handle. Robyn also notes that the decision is even harder when it is made regarding such a delicate species. All the primates classified as “great apes” have an endangered conservation status. Of all the great apes the gorilla is decidedly the most threatened.
Among many threats in the wild faced by these amazing animals are poaching, deforestation, and habitat fragmentation. If the above practices were eliminated, gorillas could have a better chance of regaining larger populations. The gorillas’ life expectancy in the wild would also benefit from the elimination of these free radicals making it more closely related to the expectancy in captivity.
In the wake of Hope’s passing, there is some promise. The three remaining gorillas, Nick 17, Donna 40, and Katie 36, could be receiving a new companion before summer’s end. Zoo staff and keepers are hopeful that they will be receiving a new, younger, female gorilla by the end of June. The new addition to the troop will be coming from the Oklahoma City Zoo.
Even more exciting for the keepers is the prospect of being able to breed Nick with the new female from Oklahoma. Robyn is especially excited about the hopes of being able to help raise an infant. With 17 years under her belt at the NC Zoo, she has never encountered an infant gorilla. With the endangered status of the gorilla, it is quite an honor to be able to add to the species.
If the zoo is able to breed the two gorillas, they will be working with the species survival plan (SSP) program which was implemented in 1981 to help ensure the survival of certain threatened and endangered species in captivity. The SSP is a program that works with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in the United States to safely breed species in captivity to ensure that the gene pool of those species remains healthy and genetically diverse.
The zoo has also been reworking the gorillas’ diet to make it more closely resemble the diet of gorillas in the wild. Gorillas spend most of their day finding food and eating. This has lead to a change in the gorillas’ feeding schedule. The keepers have begun to feed the gorillas four times daily as opposed to twice daily. They have also decreased the amount of grains and carbohydrates the gorillas eat and upped the amount of greens they are fed. The keepers are also hopeful that this change in diet will help to prevent common ailments faced by the gorillas, which most often include cardiac and reproductive health problems.
Much like humans, gorillas are a highly social and gentle animal. They are well known for their intelligence and human qualities. All of the gorillas at the NC Zoo are able to identify most all body parts and can distinguish from right and left. Robyn says that the most important thing to remember is, like humans, each and every gorilla has itsown unique personality.