PHILADELPHIA — Chaka, a young stud from Cincinnati, and Demba, a childless female from Dallas, were brought to the Philadelphia Zoo to start a new line of gorillas after a disastrous fire. But three years later, their courtship remains cool.

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        Chaka, who had been sent from Philadelphia to Cincinnati on a breeding loan, had sired nine offspring before he was 15. The plan was that he and Demba would help populate a new $24 million Primate Reserve the zoo opened in 1999.

        The zoo lost all its great apes when flames swept through its World of Primates exhibit on Christmas Eve 1995, killing six gorillas, three orangutans and four white-handed gibbons, as well as 10 lemurs, all endangered species.

        Awaiting any baby gorillas is a new facility protected by smoke, heat and carbon monoxide monitors, automatic smoke and fire doors and a smoke evacuation system.

        Chaka has made overtures to Demba, sometimes hooting and approaching her. But their head keeper, Julie Unger Smith, said he has otherwise been too gentlemanly. When Demba screams, he retreats.

        And even though Chaka and Demba sleep together unchaperoned at night, so far it appears that all they do is sleep.

        Whatever relationship the gorillas have is “subtle,” Smith said recently. “I wish I had better things to report.”

        Smith never gives up hope that two are cranking up the intensity. “If Demba goes off her food, or if she's acting a little odd or sluggish, I'm always thinking, 'Hmmm. I wonder...',” the keeper said.

        But the gorilla matchmakers don't have forever, as Demba's biological clock ticks. She turns 32 in July, approaching the outer edge of a gorilla's fertility.

        Adding to the urgency is that Demba has no offspring yet, making her genetically important among North America's 370 zoo gorillas. Breeders say more genetic variety means a more viable population.

        The official “studbook keeper” for North American gorillas, Dan Wharton, director of New York's Central Park Zoo, is the one who decides which gorillas should mate to prevent inbreeding. And Wharton is considering in-vitro fertilization or artificial insemination for Demba.

        Zoo visitors have other recommendations.

        “Start pumping in some love music,” said Beth Curtis of Philadelphia, who brings her son Isaiah, 2, to the zoo every week. “Barry White would be nice.”

        Smith has been trying to condition Demba to being touched, meanwhile. The purpose is mainly to allow better day-to-day care. For example, she wouldn't have to be sedated to check a scratch. The touch conditioning could also make Demba less skittish about having Chaka approach.

        When Demba arrived at the zoo, Smith was pregnant. Her daughter is now 2.

        Smith said she wants nothing less for Demba: “She just seems like she'd be a good mother.”

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