Staff members at the Lekedi Foundation sanctuary in Gabon seek a companion for Jojo, an adult male gorilla who spent years alone after transfer from a private zoo.
Years Spent Alone
Poachers killed his family when Jojo was less than a year old and captured him in the wild. He grew up in a small cage.
Jojo stepped onto grass for the first time in 2015 at the age of 11. Head caretaker Maxe Anakle Makaba said that the animal seeks interaction with people by collecting leaves to exchange for treats.
Sanctuary director Eric Viyom said that Jojo makes sounds that adult males in the wild use to call females when women he knows visit his enclosure.
Finding a New Companion
Sanctuary caretakers are considering placing another rescued animal or a zoo-born gorilla with Jojo. University of Sussex professor Gillian Forrester described Jojo’s situation as one of the worst instances of seclusion she has ever encountered.
Forrester recorded that the animal has a persistently cold nose using a thermal imaging camera. This may indicate an impaired bodily response to stress. Moving an animal from an accredited zoo would be a decision for an international committee based on genetics, health, and individual personalities and compatibility.
“There aren’t clear processes in place to do these kinds of trans-locations,” Forrester said, after discussions with a number of accredited zoos fizzled out with no sign of progress.
Building Social Bonds
Any introduction to another animal would be done very carefully. Caretakers could start by giving them an object that smells of the other before they see each other.
Some experts caution that such an attempt could cause Jojo additional stress since he has already reached adulthood. “Just sitting together quietly sharing space” forms a big part of a gorilla’s normal social life, Dr Robin Morrison said.
Morrison studies the social lives of mountain gorillas at the University of Zurich. Dr Katie Fawcett from the Grace Center said that forming social relationships is essential for an animal to be considered for release into the wild.
Release remains the ultimate goal for Jojo’s keepers after he spent nearly all of his childhood in isolation.
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