Gorilla girls given photos of a possible mate
Friday, August 28, 2009
Female gorillas at London Zoo have been given dating website style photographs of possible mates.
The Zoo's singletons, Mjukuu, 10, Effie, 16, and Zaire, 34 are set to be joined later this year by 20 stone male gorilla Yeboah, a 12-year-old who is currently in France. After hooking up with several French gorillas, Yeboah is ready to try out some British girls.
Keepers wanted to get a feel for how the female trio will respond to him and gave each a set of snaps showing him strutting his stuff. Only Mjukuu and Effie are depicted above. Zaire, the oldest and most shy, decided not to come out of her room for the photo op. She took her pics of Yeboah inside with her.
It is hoped this will mean the gorilla girls recognize him when he arrives and will be more likely to mate with him ... lets hope he hasn't made that mistake of using a 10-year-old photo taken before he put on weight and lost his hair.
Keepers visited Yeboah in France a month ago to observe his personality and decided the dashing male would get along perfectly with London Zoo’s female gorillas, who have lacked male attention since the death of silverback Bobby in December 2008.
Team leader Tracey Lee said: “Mjukuu was holding the picture as if she was reading a newspaper. We think Yeboah will go for her first because she's very pretty, very social and she's a terrible flirt.
"She used to hug Bobby and sit on his knee all the time while looking over her shoulder at the others."
“Yeboah is a very charming, fun loving and intelligent gorilla. I think it was love at first sight when the girls were let onto the island to look at the pictures – it was a very special moment.”
Yeboah has also been given pictures of the three London ladies and keepers believe that this will help familiarise the gorillas with each other before they meet.
Photo credit: Zoological Society of London
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