gorillas“Dancing gorilla with GSOH WLTM female gorilla for LTR.” One year ago, Daimsi and Buu were just lonely singletons. But this week the amorous apes were celebrating the birth of their first baby – after finding love on the internet.

Zookeepers at London’s Chessington Zoo brought the pair together last May after identifying 13-year-old male silverback Daimsi as the perfect match for Chessington-born Buu using a Europe-wide online resource called the Stud Book. The databade compares the family trees and family histories of every gorilla in Europe and enables zoos to ensure the gorillas’ gene pool remains healthy and varied.

Having been raised at Paignton Zoo, where he was known as the “dancing gorilla”, Daimsi’s move to Chessington recreates a common occurrence among wild gorillas for male apes who reach puberty to leave the group they are born in and join another group.

“We are so happy for Buu and Damisi who hit it off straight away,” said gorilla keeper Michael Riozzi. “Buu is a fantastic first-time mum and their baby is a welcome addition to our group; one of the most successful breeding groups of Western Lowland Gorillas in Europe.”

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 8:31 am and is filed under Mammals, Primates, Zoos, apes, babies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.