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[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

German gorilla gets a mate in South Africa
20 January 2005
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=15978&name=German+gorilla+gets+a+mate+in+South+Africa

JOHANNESBURG - Makoko, the German gorilla, will be introduced to his 
prospective African bride on 14 February - Valentine's Day, his 
keepers at the Johannesburg Zoo said on Thursday.

Strutting back and forth in his new enclosure, Makoko appeared bored 
and restless on Thursday, but nevertheless struck brief poses in the 
light drizzle for curious journalists and officials at the facility.

The large 19-year-old silverback brought from Germany's Munster Zoo 
in November moved between his concrete den and the larger outdoor 
area, occasionally stopping to drag something along.

In the den next door, Lisa, the female gorilla that  he is expected 
to meet and hopefully develop some affection for in the coming 
months, sat quietly.

"He has settled down very well," the facility's primate expert, 
Phillip Cronje told journalists. Cronje was one of only two people 
allowed access to the animal during its 45 day quarantined period 
which ended on Thursday.

Makoko, he says, makes "laughing" sounds, appears not to like loud 
noise and likes to bounce the red and blue balls he has been given 
for entertainment during meals.
"After half an hour it can be quite annoying, but that's what 
gorillas are about," he says. Cronje laughs when he admits that 
Makoko now being allowed to see other people brought some relief "for 
both of us".

Cronje, like a proud father, boasts how Makoko learned to peel his 
own bananas in Africa. "At the zoo in Munster, they would peel it for 
him. He has gone from this to peeling it himself".

Makoko and Lisa have observed each other via a mirror. Soon they will 
be allowed limited contact, their reactions closely observed by 
primate experts before they are allowed to share the zoo's gorilla 
enclosure on 14 February, said Cronje.

Hopeful South African journalists on Thursday began referring to 
Makoko as Lisa's "German Toyboy".

"He has been aware that there is a female in the building. Lisa seems 
to have calmed down quite a bit since he arrived," Cronje told 
Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa.

Given the large age gap between the two animals - Lisa is 33 years 
old - there is "only a slight chance that they will breed," he says.

Lisa lost her mate Max, South Africa's world renowned "crime- 
fighting" gorilla, to old age last May. Max made world headlines in 
1997 when he attacked a burglar who landed in his enclosure while 
fleeing police. During the ensuing scuffle the gorilla was shot twice 
but survived.

Hopes that he and Lisa would breed - speculation that she was 
pregnant at one stage caused wide public delight - were dashed when 
it emerged that Max was sterile.
"The next step is to introduce Makoko and Lisa. Whether they will 
actually mate, we don't know. Age is against her," says Cronje.

However, zoo officials hoped that Makoko would prove an incentive for 
younger female gorillas to be transferred to the zoo.

"Lisa would then take on the role of a granny, or matriarch," Cronje 
suggests. Lisa arrived in South Africa in 1991 from the Moscow zoo 
where she had been kept for 20 years as an indoor exhibit.

Despite the slim chance of romance between Makoko and Lisa, African 
tradition dictates "Lobola" be paid to compensate the bride's family 
for her hand in marriage.