BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Well, all right. Cincinnati has something new to boast about.
Thanks to the birth Nov. 3 of a male gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cincinnati is once again the country's top gorilla breeder.
It's baby gorilla No. 46 for the zoo, which gives it the U.S. record for gorilla births - one ahead of Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. It's second in the world to London's Howletts Zoo with 53.
Mother Muke, 17, was born in Cincinnati in 1981. Father Chaka, 13, is on breeding loan from the Philadelphia Zoo.
The baby, yet to be named, is the second for the couple of western lowland gorillas. Mother and baby are together in their indoor quarters, off display in Gorilla World.
Chaka has sired eight babies since 1994, when he was brought in to jump-start the zoo's breeding program. It was stalled for almost two years because the zoo's other male gorilla, Colossus, showed no interest in breeding then - and still doesn't.
Captive breeding programs are considered important for the future of the species, because gorillas are endangered.
Threatened and endangered are conservationist terms. "Endangered means in need of immediate attention to avoid becoming extinct," says zoo general curator Mike Dulaney. "Threatened means there's a threat they will become endangered."
The birth means there now are six young gorillas residing with the adult troupe in Gorilla World. The youngsters will not be on public display until outdoor temperatures are consistently in the 60s.
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