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[Carrie McLaren <stay.free AT verizon.net>]

Gorilla long held at Tacoma store may find romance at last
4/17/2005, 4:13 p.m. PT

The Associated Press            
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/washingtonstate/index.ssf?/base/ 
news-13/1113779117259940.xml&storylist=orwashington

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Ivan the gorilla is nearly 41 — middle-aged now,  
and a little heavier than he was during the years he spent in a cage at  
a suburban store.

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But he also appears to have found romance with a young female at Zoo  
Atlanta, a development his keepers — and fans at both ends of the  
country — have long hoped for, The News Tribune reported Sunday.

The former South Sound resident has been socially awkward since his  
highly publicized transfer to Zoo Atlanta in 1994. But it's really not  
his fault, after 27 years in a concrete-and-steel cage at the B&I store  
in Lakewood.

He hasn't lacked opportunity. Ivan has shared a habitat with four  
females — Shamba, Kinyani, Kashata and Kudzoo — since 1998.

"You feel sorry for him," said Mary-Catherine Turton, a volunteer guide  
at Zoo Atlanta for the past decade. "You want him to live the rich  
life."

Hoping privacy could be the key, zoo officials have taken Ivan to a  
more private habitat to introduce him to a new female gorilla named  
Olympia.

The process could take weeks, Turton said, but his prospects are  
promising.

When he arrived in Atlanta on loan from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, he  
weighed 338 pounds. Now he's a hefty 380 — the heaviest gorilla at the  
zoo.

He's fit, he's healthy and he seems to be coming out of his shell.

"I can tell you, he seems very happy and very social with the other  
gorillas," said Jodi Kissinger, one of Ivan's keepers at Zoo Atlanta.

That has not always been the case. In the past he seemed timid, almost  
preferring to be alone. Given his decades of isolation in the  
Northwest, zoo officials were not surprised.

Now, "that might be changing," Turton said. "Females used to come over  
and steal his food, and slap him coming by. He is starting to stand up  
to them."

Olympia, daughter of legendary Zoo Atlanta silverback Willie B, who  
died in 2000, was born in June 1996, just before the Summer Olympics in  
Atlanta.

Her outgoing character has caught Ivan's eye.

"There have been certain looks between them over the moat," Turton  
said. Olympia was kept separated for a time to get acclimated to Ivan  
and the females in his habitat.

While a gorilla in his 40s used to be considered too old to mate, that  
has changed.

"Willie B was in his 40s, having children," said James Davis, who  
publishes a nationwide list of zoos' gorillas.

If a female likes Ivan, she can make the first move, Davis said.

"As long as he's receptive, it can happen," he said. "He's laid-back,  
and she's young."

Olympia will be the sixth female zoo matchmakers have tried to get  
together with Ivan. So far, he's the only one of the zoo's three  
silverbacks — adult males with silvery hair — who has not produced  
offspring.

"There has to be chemistry," Turton said.