Boisterous bachelor apes booted from Calgary Zoo
A 'bag of hormones,' the eldest of 3 brothers, has been bothering their dad's female troop

Canadian Press
Published: Thursday, July 06, 2006

CALGARY -- An amorous ape and his two brothers have been sent packing after a gorilla family feud at the Calgary Zoo.

The exiled primates are headed to a bachelors' pad at Granby Zoo near Montreal on Thursday.

The departure of the western lowland gorilla trio -- N'sabi, 10, Jawara, 8, and Zwalani, 6 -- is bittersweet but long expected. It's best to see them go before things get too hairy, said zookeeper Garth Irvine.

Sexual politics in the gorilla pavilion heated up last year when N'sabi started putting the moves on one of the troop's females. The problem is that N'sabi won't be attractive to females for at least another 10 years, said Irvine.

"He's a big, muscular bag of hormones," he said. "There's not a lot of manners there. The females don't really want to be around him."

As tension rose, silverback leader Kakinga kicked his eldest son out of the troop. N'sabi has been living alone since.

Conflicts between troop silverbacks and maturing males occur both in the wild and captivity. Young males often form bachelor groups until they're able to lead their own troops, said Irvine.

In this case, the troop leader also happens to be the three males' father.

Irvine said he's happy the three can travel as a group to their new home.

"Bachelor troops work best when it's young males who have grown up together."

When they're old enough, all three will become prime breeding males.

Though it will be great to defuse the troop's tense atmosphere at the zoo, Irvine said, he'll miss the gorillas, especially N'sabi.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006