LITTLE ROCK — Mosi, the first gorilla to ever be born at the Little Rock Zoo, is leaving home.
At 5 years old, Mosi will soon start challenging his father, Fossey, for dominance in the family group, keepers say, and the big silverback won’t put up with a young upstart.
Keepers also report that Mosi is also getting on his pregnant mom’s nerves as well. So, with heavy hearts, the Little Rock Zoo will ship him off to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, where Mosi will join a bachelor group.
“He’ll be 6 on Oct. 10. He probably wouldn’t start to really challenge Fossey until he’s 8 or 9, but we’re starting to see some irritation on the part of the females,” primate keeper Daphne Pfeiffer said Thursday afternoon as she and colleague Anne Rademacher chatted about Mosi’s impending departure.
“This is a little early, but they mature quicker in captivity, and to form those bachelor groups, they’ve found that it’s really beneficial for these guys to meet when they’re younger,” Rademacher said.
With his mother, Sekani, expecting the second baby gorilla to be born at the Little Rock Zoo, it’s becoming increasingly clear that she is feeling less maternal toward her firstborn, the keepers said.
“He doesn’t get away with everything carte blanche like he used to,” Pfeiffer said.
“A lot of it is over food,” Rademacher continued. “Young gorillas kind of have the run of things. They can come up and take food from mom. Well, he’s not a baby anymore, and when feeding time comes around, mom is very devoted to food.”
“Devoted to food,” Pfeiffer said with a chuckle. “That’s a good way to put it.”
Sekani is expected to give birth between Oct. 1 and Nov. 1, the keepers said. She noted that the animals are officially classified as western lowland gorillas, an endangered species.
Because they are endangered, the primates are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan. As the accreditation entity for such parks, the association also monitors animal populations and makes breeding recommendations that sometimes result in animals being moved around to diversify the gene pool.
The association recommended that Sekani be taken off her birth control — the same kind human women use — and she got her first positive pregnancy test result Feb. 7. She’s been tested several other times, using a home pregnancy test bought from an area drugstore, and each test was positive, the keepers said.
In the wild and in captivity, the gorillas live in family groups consisting of a mature male, several females and their young. The male, called a silverback because his fur grays as he ages, leads the group. Sometimes adolescent males form bachelor groups before going off in search of their own harems, Rademacher said.
“If males and females are born at the same rate, you’re automatically going to have a surplus of males, and not every male is going to find a group to join,” Rademacher said.
Mosi won’t be the only new gorilla to join the bachelor group at Lincoln Park Zoo. A male named Umande will be joining the troop from Columbus Zoo in Ohio, said Tiffany Ruddle, a spokesman for the Chicago zoo. The hope is that the new arrivals will become fast friends, as the resident gorillas Azizi and Amare have already formed a fraternal bond, Ruddle said.
While the Little Rock keepers knew that Mosi would eventually lose his place in the current family group, it will still be bittersweet to see him go in a few months, the women said.
They didn’t have a definitive date for the move, but Pfeiffer said Lincoln Park Zoo will make all the arrangements and cover the cost. Mosi’s departure will leave Little Rock Zoo with four gorillas until the new baby is born.
“We’re excited because he’s going to a top-notch zoo,” Rademacher said. “He’s going with young guys. He’s going to be right in the middle of the age range. This will be a wonderful thing because he doesn’t have any other kids to play with. His dad is playful, but he’s not a kid.”
“We would’ve liked it if he’d been able to stay around long enough to see the baby because that would be a natural thing that he would experience in the wild,” Pfeiffer said. “He would’ve had a baby sister or brother to play with when they got big enough. He’s going to miss that, and that’s a little sad. But, we’re very excited about having a new baby.”
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 03/25/2012